The English ancestry of Reinold and Matthew Marvin of Hartford, Ct ...

Do Not 

Circulate 

THE LIBRARY 

BR.GHAV, VOU.W U£VERS.TY 

PROVQ. UTAH

Digitized by the Internet Archive 

in 2010 with funding from 

Brigham Young University 

http://www.archive.org/details/englishancestryoOOmarv

ST. MICHAEL'S, RAMSEY.

q 2.9.0- 

THE ENGLISH ANCESTRY 

&eiuottr attfc iftattijefr itta^in 

OF 

OF HARTFORD, CT., 1638 

THEIR HOMES AND PARISH CHURCHES 

BY 

WILLIAM T. R. MARVIN 

A. M., WILLIAMS, MEMBER N. E. HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, HON'y MEMBER OF THE 

AMERICAN NUMIS. AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, COR. MEMBER NUMIS. 

AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, PHILADELPHIA, ASSOCIE STRANGER 

SOCIETE ROYALE DB NUMIS. DB BBLGIQUE, ETC. 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

BOSTON 

1900 

; if

COPYRIGHT 

I900 

W. T. K. MARVIN 

BOSTON 

IHBDBRARY 

BRIQHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 

PROVO, UTAH

Go tbe dfcemotE of 

MY FATHER 

THEOPHILUS R. MARVIN 

THE FIRST TO TRACE OUR FAMILY HISTORY 

IN AMERICA 

AND OF MY ELDEST SON 

WHO BORE HIS NAME.

FOREWORD 

EVERAL years ago Mr. William S. Appleton, of Boston, 

while in London, found in the Will of John Lucas a 

reference to Reynold Marvine, of Ramsey, Essex, 

which attracted his attention, for he was aware of my 

descent from the early settler at Hartford and Lyme, Conn., who 

bore that name, and of my interest in the family history. On his 

return, he very kindly informed me of his discovery, and a brief 

reference was made to it in an account of the Marvin Family, 

which was prepared from material gathered by my father and 

myself, and printed in the sumptuous " Family Histories and Gen- 

ealogies," published by Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Salisbury, of 

New Haven, Conn. It was impossible to delay the publication of 

that work — then far advanced — to follow out an uncertain clue. 

Letters were written however to correspondents in England, in the 

hope of tracing the ancestral line to its English home ; but as the 

Ramsey Parish Registers previous to the emigration were destroyed, 

further search seemed hopeless, and was finally discontinued. 

In the summer of 1897, with the aid of Mrs. Salisbury, of New 

Haven, Conn., the late Gen. Selden Marvin, of Albany, N. Y., his 

brother Richard P. Marvin, Esq., of Akron, Ohio, and their sister 

Mrs. B. F. Goodrich, of Cambridge, Mass., I was enabled to avail 

myself of the services of Mr. Watkins, then about to sail for 

England ; 

he 

had found a clue on a previous visit, which he be-

6 Foreword 

lieved would lead to definite knowledge, and at our request he 

made a visit to the old Churches of St. Michael at Ramsey, and St. 

Mary at Great Bentley, Essex. At last our hopes were realized ; 

on the Registers of the latter Parish he found the long sought 

Records which he personally transcribed. By his thoughtfulness I 

also obtained photographic views of the " Green " and the ancient 

Church of St. Mary, at Great Bentley. Returning to London, he 

was furnished by Mr. Henry F. Waters, who has done so much for 

New England Genealogy, with brief abstracts of two Wills of the 

English Marvins, clearly connected with our ancestral line ; with 

these hints, a search at Somerset House, London, and among the 

Suffolk Wills recorded at Ipswich, brought many others to light, 

which I have since had copied from the originals, and have printed 

them in this volume, usually in full, and always exactly following 

the quaint old spelling. 

I have thought this story of the way in which Mr. Appleton's 

clue led to such satisfactory results would not be without interest, 

and have therefore given it at some length ; the official sources 

from which this record is made establish the line to the family of 

the great-grandfather of the emigrants and the English homes 

beyond question ; with a fair degree of probability they show us 

their kindred, and perhaps the direct line, two generations earlier. 

It will also be seen that we have been able to give by means of 

one of the Wills the exact location of the homestead and lands of 

the father of Reinold and Matthew. 

It seemed to me that the descendants of those settlers at Hart- 

ford who chanced to read these pages would be interested to know 

something of the old homes of their forefathers, the " Green 

where they played, the Churches where they worshipped, and the 

priests who ministered to them ; I have therefore gleaned from 

various sources such descriptions as were attainable, reference to 

which will be found in the Notes. The reproductions of the photo- 

graphs are now for the first time printed. The two maps have 

"

Foreword J 

been photographed from Camden's Britannia, printed before our 

ancestors sailed from England. A more elaborate map showing 

the ancient highways in Tendring Hundred will be found in 

Morant's Essex, and one on a smaller scale in the Post Office 

Directory for that County ; both show the roads to which reference 

is made on page 138 below. 

The investigations which have been described above carry back 

the line of our ancestors to the period when the Tudors ascended 

the throne of England. As will be seen, the first of our direct 

line of whom we have absolute knowledge, although his Christian 

name is not certainly known [see pp. 31 and 38], must have been 

born not far from 1485, the year of the Battle of Bosworth Field, 

the last in the Wars of the Roses, — when the crown which Richard 

III had tossed aside in his flight was taken from the hawthorn 

bush into which it had fallen, and placed on the head of Henry 

VII by Lord Derby. As Prof. Guest has said in his English His- 

tory, " Old times were passing away and new ones were beginning. 

This period was the end of the middle ages, and the death of the 

feudal system .... a time of great spirit and stir, full of eager- 

ness, and anticipation, and wonder." America was not yet dis- 

covered. Caxton, the first of English printers, had recently set up 

his press in Westminster Abbey. The contest between Henry 

VIII and the Pope was yet to come, and the Clergy who ministered 

at the altars of English Churches were under the Roman 

obedience. It was the era of the Renaissance, — the sunrise hour 

of Modern History ; and to me it seems a matter of something 

more than ordinary interest that the story of our New England 

family should chance to begin at this pivotal point. 

A century and a half passed away, and the Stuarts were reigning 

when Matthew, the first of our ancestors to cross the sea, left 

England. The ship which carried him bore an auspicious name— 

"The Increase." Charles I was already in trouble with his Par-

8 

Foreword 

liament, and his demands for ship money had roused the indigna- 

tion of the people. This new burden is believed to have been the 

cause of Reinold's departure ; he followed his brother to New 

England in 1637 or 1638. We mention these landmarks of history 

to give a glimpse of the period covered ; 

and 

perhaps the outline 

will enable one to form a better idea of the environment of our 

fathers, whose names and Parish Churches are given in the fol- 

lowing pages. 

In conclusion I desire here to express my sincere thanks to the 

descendants of Reinold Marvin whom I have named above ; to 

Mrs. Harriet Pinckney Huse, of Highland Falls, N. Y., and to Mr. 

George F. Marvin, of New York, also descendants, for the assis- 

tance they have rendered me. Without their aid this work would 

not have been accomplished ; aside from this, and with the single 

exception of a small contribution made by a descendant of Mat- 

thew for a special search, no other aid has ever been received or 

solicited. An inspection of Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury's " Family 

Histories and Genealogies," and the four Pedigree charts of our 

family therein contained, will show something of what has already 

been accomplished in tracing the American lines of descent, in 

which will be found many eminent names — Judges and Governors, 

Bishops and Soldiers, College Presidents and Professors at Har- 

vard, Yale, Dartmouth, and elsewhere, with others hardly less 

distinguished. The work of preparing a complete Genealogy is 

still in progress. 

W. T. R. Marvin, 

73 Federal Street, 

Boston, Mass.

THE ENGLISH ANCESTRY 

OF 

REINOLD AND MATTHEW MARVIN 

AND THEIR HOMES. 

HE earliest trace of our ancestry thus far dis- 

covered was found in the summer of 1897, 

in and near Ramsey, a Parish in Tendring 

Hundred, Essex County, England. This vil- 

lage, a "coast Parish," with a population at the present 

day of nearly two thousand,* is sixty-eight miles from Lon- 

don, and three miles and a half west of Harwich, the nearest 

railway station being that of Parkeston Quay, on the Harwich 

and Manningtree branch of the Great Eastern Railway, a 

mile from the village, which is called " Ramsey Street," and 

borders on the River Stour. 

The northern part of the Parish forms a peninsula, which 

has the Stour on the north, and a small creek on the south 

and east, and is called "The Ray." This creek, which passes 

* The population of the Parish is given in the English Clergy List of 1895, as 1,877.

10 The English Ancestry of 

through the Parish, has considerable marsh land near its 

banks, and is crossed by a bridge which unites " Ramsey 

Street" on the west side, south of "The Ray," with "Ramsey 

" on the east — both portions of the same Parish. A 

legacy "vnto the buyldinge of the Brydge" was given by 

John Marvin in his will, 1570. 

From Newcourt's Repertorium* we learn that "Ramsey, 

alias Mikeltow, sometimes Ramsey cum Mickelstow, and on 

some old records Michaelstowe, was the name of the place 

in the time of William the Conqueror, when it was held by 

Ralph Baynard." The old name " Michaelstowe " seems to 

have applied more particularly to the eastern side. The 

adjoining Parishes are Dovercourt which has a certain con- 

nection with Harwich, on the east, the Oakleys on the south, 

Wix on the south-west, Wrabness on the west, and the river 

on the north. Little Bentley, Great Bentley and Thorington 

are a few miles away south-westerly. In all of these Parishes 

some members of the Marvin families were found, and in all 

but two, and perhaps in all, they held landed property a 

century or more before the emigration to New England. 

The name "Ramsey," Morant tells us, signifies Ram's 

Island, and whether or not the ancient inhabitants chose the 

place as a home for its advantages for flocks and herds, — 

farming and grazing, with an occasional fishing venture into 

the North Sea, seem to have furnished the chief employ- 

ment of the people there, three hundred years ago. All the 

Parishes named were in Tendring Hundred. 

* Repertorium, II : p. 484.

Reinold and Matthew Marvin n 

In the olden time there were seven Manors there, and 

several of them are still important. Of these Roydon Hall, 

two miles west of the Parish Church, is the chief. At the 

time that Matthew, one of our New England ancestors, left 

the mother country (1635), this belonged to Sir Harbottle 

Grimston,* Knight and Baronet ; later it passed to James 

Smyth, and in 1638 Nathaniel Garland was its owner. At an 

earlier period it was held by the Roydons and Lucases. As 

it was because of the discovery of the fact that John Lucas, 

who died 27 May, 1599, mentioned a Reinold Marvin in his 

Will, dated 6 December, 1596, proved 18 June, 1599, and 

recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (Kidd, 50), 

that we were led to make the investigations near his home 

which have given such satisfactory results, a brief reference 

to that family may not be without interest. The clause in 

the Will of Lucas is : "I 

do confess that I owe unto William 

Bedingfield, of Bedfield, gent my sonne One hundred and 

sixteene poundes. To Reynold Marvine of Ramsey in the 

Countie of Essex, yoman, Tenne poundes." This Reynold 

was possibly a son of Roger. The Beddingfields were a 

prominent family in Ipswich, Suffolk, in the sixteenth cent- 

ury, and many Ipswich names appear in the neighboring 

Essex towns. 

John 3 Lucas, of Ramsey, was the second son of John 2 

Lucas, Esq., by his second wife, Elizabeth, dau. of George 

Christmas. John 2 was the third son of Thomas 1 and Eliza- 

beth (Keymes) Lucas, a prominent gentleman of Colchester, 

* See " Essex in the Days of Old," by John T. Page, London, 1898.


Essex, whose family owned estates in various Counties of 

England. A full account of the family and its several 

branches, will be found in Morant's Essex, and also in the 

Suffolk Visitations. 

John 8 married before 1558, Mary or Margaret, daughter 

and heiress of Christopher Roydon, of Roydon Hall, Ramsey, 

and later, of Witham, where he was a " Doctor of Physic." 

Christopher, who died in 1544, was the last male descendant 

of the family who had held the Hall for nearly two hundred 

years. Through this marriage Roydon Hall came to Lucas. 

After his death it passed to his son John, 4 who died 13 De- 

cember, 1619. Its subsequent history can readily be traced 

in Morant.* 

Other Manors about 1590 were Hoobridge Hall, belong- 

ing to Sir Philip Boothes ; Fowton Hall, held about 1570 by 

the Duke family ; it was " sometime the Mortymers', and 

then the Guldfords' ; 

" Strond-land Manor Lucas held of John 

Herd ; " Le Rey," or Ray Manor, on the peninsula of that 

name, was the property of William Bunynghill in 1543, and 

from him passed to Sir Thomas White. Reynold Marvin, 

the grandfather of Reynold and Matthew, owned two farms 

in this immediate vicinity in 1554, one of which was called 

East Hall, which was "deforced " from Bunynghill in 1543-f 

At the present time there are two Manors in the Parish, 

Ramsey Hall, or Manor, which belonged to John Herd in 

1599, and Michaelstowe Hall, which is near the "Bridge" 

crossing the creek mentioned above, and which stands on the 

* Essex I : p. 494, and passim. f Ibid., p. 493. 

—

Reinold and Matthew Marvin 13 

easterly side ; the latter was a handsome seat, near the 

Church ; at the time of the suppression of the monasteries 

in the reign of Henry VIII, a moiety of this estate was 

granted to Robert Cary, Earl of Monmouth, and the other 

moiety to Sir George Whitmore. Near this Manor, at "the 

Bridge foote," was the property of John Marvin, in 1560-70. 

The ancient Parish Church in which many of our ances- 

tors were christened, married, and buried, is built upon a 

hill. In the quiet Church-yard beside it are to be seen 

stones of recent date inscribed with the names of members 

of the Lucas family. Like many other English Churches 

in similar situations, it is dedicated to St. Michael,* who 

was evidently its "patron saint" from the very earliest times. 

It is a building of stone in the decorated and perpendicular 

style, with nave " of one pace with the Chancel," and a south 

porch. It has a massive western tower, square, with embat- 

tled top, in which are three bells, the earliest dated 1676 ; 

on its south face is a sun-dial with the motto " Time passeth 

away like a shadow — 1841." The exterior is so covered 

with plaster that little or none of its structure can be seen ; 

the lower part of the tower is overgrown with ivy. The 

north wall dates from the eleventh century, and contains a 

small Norman door, with moulded imposts and a small 

round-headed loop a little to the east. In the north wall 

of the Chancel, close to the east end, is a five-foiled arched 

recess of early English work, thought to be the remains of 

" the Easter sepulchre ; 

" in the opposite wall is a small and 

* Called also " St. Michael the Archangel " in some of the old Wills.

14 

The English Ancestry of 

very plain piscina.* The Chancel arch is unfinished from 

just above the spring of the arch, or was cut through at the 

time the Chancel roof was altered and restored in the seven- 

teenth century. The wall plate is carved with a running 

pattern of foliage. 

The " three largest Chancel windows are perfectly plain 

and very ugly." There is a smaller cusped loop over the 

Priest's door. The nave is lighted by seven windows, includ- 

ing the Norman loop on the north side, above mentioned. 

One of the others on the south is unusual in design, and of 

the early decorated period, while at the west end is a " low 

side window " in the corner between the nave and tower but- 

tress, a remarkable position. The west door is perpendicular 

gothic, and much decayed ; 

the south door is rema^ka^'ty well 

preserved and ornate ; it has a double series of enriched dec- 

orations, including a demi-figure of a woman crowned, another 

of a male figure holding in the left hand a book, the right 

raised in benediction, and a little way below, I & M both 

crowned. There are also representations of the sun and moon, 

of winged hearts, shields with straps, crowns, foliage and 

human faces. The figures may possibly be intended for the 

Virgin and Christ ; the estoiles and crescents being symbols 

of the sun and moon. The porch is of brick and overgrown 

* " The Easter Sepulchre " was the receptacle in which, according to the ritual of 

the Roman Catholic Church, the consecrated wafer or "host" was placed after it was 

t aken from the altar, in Passion-tide, to be kept there in symbolic commemoration of 

the burial of Our Lord in " the sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock," after His 

crucifixion. 

" Piscina. A niche on the south side of the altar in the same Churches, 

containing a small basin and water-drain through which the priest empties the water 

in which the chalice has been rinsed."— Oxford Glossary.


with ivy. The Chancel was rebuilt in 1597 by Golding- 

ham and William , but their full names, once recorded 

in their epitaphs on a tablet, cannot now be deciphered. In 

the Church are several memorial tablets and monuments— 

one of Sir Thomas Davall, who represented Harwich in Par- 

liament and died in 1712 ; the others are later. 

Of the old Communion silver there remains a chalice of 

Elizabethan design, which dates from about 1570, and its 

cover may be older ; this is probably the only portion of the 

ancient service left, but there are two pewter plates, inscribed 

" Ramsey Parish," which with the chalice, are mentioned in 

the old Registers. Unfortunately the Parish Records pre- 

vious to 1645 are l° st > thev are supposed to have been 

destroyed during the Civil War at the close of the reign of 

Charles I.* 

The Church was early given to the Abbey of St. Osyth, 

and "the great tithes being appropriated to it, a vicarage 

was ordained, which continued in the Abbey's gift until the 

Suppression : then it came to the Crown, and hath remained 

in it ever since." The living, valued at ^200 in 1895, is 

now in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. 

In 1610, says Newcourt, it had a Vicarage house and 

barn, and about nine acres and two roods of glebe. In 1637 

* This account of this Church as it was in 1893, is taken from the Rev. J. Harvey 

Bloom's " Heraldry and Monumental Inscriptions, etc.," (Hemsworth, England,) pp. 

112-113, of which only twenty-five copies were printed. This work gives a great num- 

ber of the inscriptions on the gravestones and monuments in the Ramsey Churchyards, 

but none so ancient as the time when our ancestors were living near it ; we 

know certainly that some of them are sleeping there, but the names upon the oldest 

stones are illegible.

1 

6 


this estate had been somewhat increased. It " had all tythes 

except corn, hay and wood." The parsonage with its thir- 

teen acres of glebe is near the Church. The Parish is now 

in the Diocese of St. Alban's (Province of Canterbury), the 

Archdeaconry of Colchester, and the Deanery of Ardleigh 

and Harwich, and the Vicar in 1895 was the Rev. Wm. 

Hugh Wood, M. A. 

St. Osyth (or 'T Oosey as the people called her) to whom 

the Abbey was dedicated, was the daughter of a Mercian 

Prince, and martyred by the Danes ; her story is given in an 

old tract, " Purgatory proved by Miracles." * Local tradition 

preserves the tale that once a year she revisits the spring 

in "Nun's Wood," which bursts forth out of the earth on 

the spot where her head fell to the ground when she was 

martyred, and on the anniversary of that event, as we are 

told, she appears there, holding her head in her hands ! 

Newcourt gives the names of the Vicars of the Parish 

Church, which in his time was in the Archdeaconry of Col- 

chester and the Deanery of Tendring Hundred, then, in 

the Diocese of London. In the days of Kemp, Archbishop 

of Canterbury, a little before the time of the earliest of our 

name known to have lived at Ramsey, Hugh Bennett was in 

charge, having taken it 10 October, 1458 ; the succession of 

Clergy from that time is as follows: — Will. Hervy, from 25 

October, 1459; Richard Smyth, 12 September, 1460; John 

Horton, 24 June, 146 1 ; William Northale, 2 April, 1488. 

Bishop Hill appointed Ralph Bride, 30 September, 1499 

* Printed in Wright's " History of Essex," II : p. 773. 

;


Bishop Fitzjames next appointed Christopher Saintclere, 2 

July, 1 5 12; on his death Bishop Stokesley gave the living to 

William Hodkinson, who succeeded 17 September, 1535 ; 

cruel Bonner appointed John Russull, 3 July, 1540; and 

the 

William Vaughan, 29 April, 1550. Bishop Grindall appoint- 

ed John Lovell, A. M., 16 December, 1560; who was suc- 

ceeded 18 September, 1564, by Henry Reynold (called by his 

name in Latin, Henricus Reginald, on the ancient records *) 

on the death of Reynold, John White took charge 30 April, 

1575; he died before October, 1592; he was accused by a 

Presbyterian writer of being " A scandalous liver," and " in- 

dicted for a common barrater. Witness the Records and 

Dr. Wither." f Edward Marvin, the father of Reinold and 

Matthew, seems to have removed from Ramsey to Great 

Bentley during his time, as will be seen on a subsequent 

page. 

Thomas Blande who came next, was Vicar from 5 October, 

1592 ; he died before June, 1601. After the death of Blande 

Bishop Bancroft gave the living to Ralph Walker, 24 June, 

1 60 1, who held it for twenty-seven years (until he died) ; he 

was succeeded by John Jefferey, 9 October, 1628, and on 

his death, Bishop Laud named Richard Taylor, A. M., 24 

December, 1638, on the presentation of Charles I. He was 

still there in 1650. His successor was Abraham Everit, who 

conformed.^ From this list it may be readily seen who were 

* The Registers of St. Nicholas, Harwich, a few miles away, have many entries of 

the Reynolds family. 

t See Davids, " Annals of Non-Conformity in Essex." J Davids, p. 297. 

;

1 

8 


the Clergymen that, we cannot doubt, ministered the rites of 

the Church to our ancestors during the century and more 

that they resided in Ramsey. 

As the Parish Records of St. Michael's Church do not 

go back to the time when Matthew left England, it is 

useless to attempt to fix the period when the first Marvins 

appeared in that Parish, but they were certainly there about 

the beginning of the sixteenth century. In the adjoining 

Parishes of Harwich and Dovercourt we have also found 

a branch of the family, who had houses and lands there 

as early as 1530; several of the Ramsey Marvins owned 

lands in Dovercourt, and one at least, had land in Suffolk, 

as will be seen from their Wills. We know that the Har- 

wich branch were also closely allied with Suffolk families, 

the daughters having married there, it may be, before the 

father removed to Harwich, and in the ancient city of Ips- 

wich, in Suffolk, a few miles to the northward, which dates 

from Saxon times or earlier, we find two families of our name 

in the middle of the fifteenth century. 

Early in that century there was also a prominent family 

bearing our name in Wiltshire, which resided there for 

nearly three hundred years, but no relationship with them 

has been discovered. 

By the kind assistance of Mrs. B. F. Goodrich, of Cam- 

bridge, Mass., whose husband was a descendant of Matthew 

Marvin, and who traces her own descent from his elder 

brother Reinold, we have been enabled to cause a careful 

search to be made of the Registers of the old Church of 

—


St. Nicholas at Harwich, and to obtain copies of several 

Wills made by residents there. As the result of a recent 

visit to Ipswich, following the Harwich clue, an abstract of 

a very early Will recorded there has been obtained, which 

the officials declined to copy, as it was written in the old 

ecclesiastical Latin, very much abbreviated ; with this we 

also secured copies of four other Wills from the same 

Record, which are given below. So far as we have been 

able to discover, these five Wills are all that are to be found 

recorded there, which were made by the Marvins who lived 

in Ipswich before our ancestors left the mother country.* 

The conclusions drawn from these Wills and those pre- 

served at Somerset House, London, will be given on sub- 

sequent pages as they are taken up in turn. It is only 

necessary to say here that it is evident from these various 

sources that the Marvins of Essex were possessed of goodly 

estates for the time, holding not alone the houses where they 

resided, and the lands adjoining them which they cultivated, 

but were also the owners of other estates in various Parishes 

more or less remote, which they leased to tenants, and some 

of these, both free and copy-hold, were held by several 

generations of descendants. 

These Wills, with one or two exceptions, will be given in 

full, from careful copies of the originals ; for I have thought 

that their quaint expressions, the bequests of their makers, 

and the names of their estates and tenants, their friends and 

* My thanks are due to Miss Emma M. Walford, of London, for her aid in obtain- 

ing these copies.


their servants, and even the references to household effects 

which are contained in these old documents, give a better 

idea of the men and women who executed them, and of their 

homes and occupations, than anything else which can now 

be obtained. We shall find, so far as these reveal char- 

acter, that their makers were charitable, devout, liberal and 

public spirited ; their gifts to the repair of the Ramsey- 

Bridge, and their donations to their Parish Churches, both of 

which acts were regarded as "pious duties" at that period, 

as well as their legacies to the poor, show something of 

these qualities. 

All but one of the Churches in which they worshiped four 

centuries and more ago, so far as we know their homes, are 

standing to-day, with only such changes as the hand of time 

has made, and from their Parish Registers, when preserved, 

we have obtained the records of the later generations ; for 

the earlier ones we turn again to the Wills for information, 

and in arranging the names of the children, when the order 

of birth is unknown, we follow the order in which they are 

named therein. From the Wills, also, certain inferences 

as to possible dates of birth have occasionally been drawn, 

but such are invariably noted. 

The reasons for the conclusions stated will usually need 

no special explanation. If a father dies leaving a son of the 

proper age to be the executor of his Will, we cannot be far 

astray in believing that father to have been at least forty-five 

or fifty years old at his death, and in assigning a correspond- 

ing date as the approximate time of his birth.


In the Introductory Note we gave 1485 as the probable 

year of birth of the first from whom we could trace the 

direct line of our descent, but there appear to be some 

reasons for believing that the Ramsey Marvins came from 

the Ipswich families mentioned above, and we shall begin 

the Record there. 

FIRST GENERATION. 

1 Roger 1 Mervyn, of St. Stephen's Parish, Ipswich, in the 

County of Suffolk, was born certainly as early as 1430, since 

he left a son who was old enough to be his executor in 1475. 

His wife was Matilda , who survived him, and was 

associated with her son as executrix of her husband's Will. 

This Will is recorded at Ipswich ; * it is written in Latin, 

much abbreviated, as already mentioned ; an abstract is given 

below. It fixes the date of his death exactly, for it was 

made " the Sunday after the Feast of the Nativity of the 

Blessed Virgin Mary, 1475." This festival, one of the "black- 

letter days " of the Anglican Church, occurs 8 September, 

which fell on Friday in 1475 ; " the Sunday after " was there- 

fore 10 September, and as that is the date of probate, the 

Will appears to have been proved on the very day it was 

drawn. 

At that period " the goods of a deceased person were dis- 

tributed, or his Will proved f in the court of the 'ordinary' 

ecclesiastical judge, usually the Bishop of the Diocese ; this 

was done because a part of the goods went by custom to the 

* Suffolk Wills, Vol. II (1458-77), p. 289. t Chambers, s. v. Ecclesiastical Courts.


Bishop, to be spent for pious uses." The early history of 

these courts is obscure, and there is no apparent reason for 

the hasty proceedings in this case. As shown by the lan- 

guage and style of the instrument, it was doubtless written 

by a cleric, as was then the custom, and probably by the 

parish priest of St. Stephen's. We may conjecture that for 

convenience he took advantage of the presence in Ipswich, 

on that day, of the proper officer. Wodderspoon * gives a 

partial list of the incumbents of the Parish. John Bromley 

was appointed in 1442, but whether he remained until 1478, 

when Henry Barnard took charge, does not appear. The 

ancient Will-books were deposited in the "Archdeacon's 

Palace," situated on North Gate Street ; a tall gate house 

and a deep, recessed doorway in the outer wall to the street, 

still remain, to show something of the early building. 

That Roger was possessed of "lands and tenements," aside 

from the home in which he died, appears from his Will, 

but they are not named in the abstract furnished me. He 

directed that his interment should be in St. Stephen's 

Church. This is one of the oldest Churches in Ipswich ; 

it is mentioned in " Domesday," and occupies a site where 

stood an older Church in Saxon times, on St. Stephen's Lane, 

"a very narrow and crooked avenue lined with odd and un- 

shapely houses." The Church is "light-looking," small, and 

plain inside and out, and its revenues are also small (£7$ in 

1895). The building gives evidence of its great age, and 

* " Memorials of the Ancient Town of Ipswich," by John Wodderspoon, London, 

1850, pp. 382-3-


" renewals seem to have swept away all traces of the early 

Norman architecture." 

In the seventh year of Edward IV, 1468 (during the life- 

time of Roger Marvin), the corporation of Ipswich granted 

the Parish a piece of land on the west of the Church-yard, 

on condition that a red rose be duly rendered annually, if 

demanded,— which may show the Lancastrian sympathies of 

the town at that period. In 1547 the tower contained three 

bells. In the Church there are many mural tablets, most 

of which date from the seventeenth century, and there is a 

monument of colored marbles by the south-east door. In 

earlier times St. Stephen's contained numerous "brasses," 

as shown by the "reaved" stones in the floor, which once 

held them ; one of these brasses, erected in 1584, now partly 

broken, is all that is left in place. When the building was 

restored in 1866, two others were dug up in the Church-yard, 

one of which, quite perfect, has a certain interest for us : 

it commemorates Thomas, a grandson of Sir Humphrey 

Wingfield, and a descendant of this Sir Humphrey married 

John Marvin, of Ramsey, who died in 1 57 1. 

The Records of the Parish preserve the names of some of 

its early benefactors; in 1500 John Boyden left it "a newly- 

written Mass-book," and in 1504 a legacy of £,4. was be- 

queathed "for the making of a silver censer." Roger Mar- 

vin's bequests amounted to 235-. 4^/., not a very large sum, 

judged by present standards ; but as I find it stated that the 

value of money then was not far from sixteen times what it 

is to-day, it was about equivalent to one hundred dollars of


our currency. In 1400 the Cavendishes had the presenta- 

tion, and in 1457 

it was held by Sir Gilbert Debenham.* 

The Parish now has a small population, — less than 600 in 

1895, when the Rev. William Fred. Clark was Rector. 

The curious old Sparrow House, a building of great local 

interest, famous for a secret chamber where Charles II was 

once concealed, adjoins the Church; it was built in 1567, 

after the Marvins had left the place ; some views of this 

ancient edifice are to be found in the histories of the town, 

and one of these has a glimpse of portions of St. Stephen's. 

Many pictures of the interesting old buildings in Ipswich, 

dating from the fifteenth century or earlier, will be found in 

"In and About Ancient Ipswich." f It is said that no town 

in England has more of these quaint and curious relics. 

The only child of Roger and Matilda Marvin named in his 

Will % is 

2 John, 2 who was born about 1453, or possibly earlier, as will 

be seen below. 

ABSTRACT OF THE WILL OF ROGER MERVYN. 

In Det Nomine, &men. I, Roger Mervyn, of Ipswich, on Sun- 

day next after the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin 

Mary, 1475, do mak e my Will as follows : — 

To be buried in the Parish Church of St. Stephen's, Ipswich. 

To the high altar of the said Church, for my tithes forgotten, \\y. 

\\\)d. ; for the repairs of the said Church, xxs. 

* See " The History and Description of the Town and Borough of Ipswich," by G. 

R. Clarke, Ipswich, 1830. t By Dr. J. E. Taylor, London, 1888. 

t Suffolk Wills, recorded at Ipswich, Book II (1458-77), fo. 289.

^ m

Reinold and Matthew Marvin . 

25 

To Matilda, my wife, and John, my son, all my lands and tene- 

ments, and all my goods and chattels, movable and immovable, and 

all debts due me on condition that they pay all my debts. 

And I require all my feoffees who are enfeoffed in all the said 

lands and tenements to deliver to the said Matilda and John, and 

their heirs, full seisin of the aforesaid lands and tenements. 

To fulfill this my present Will I make the said Matilda and John 

executors. In witness whereof, etc. 

Proved in the borough of Ipswich, [Suffolk,] 10 September, 1475, 

and administration of all the goods of the said deceased Roger 

was granted to the executors within written. 

3 Robert 1 Mervyn, of Ipswich, may have been born not 

far from 1432, as he had at least two grandsons of age in 

1500, if the date of the Will of his son, printed below, has 

been correctly transcribed ; I think, for reasons given later, 

that that date is more probably 15 12, and that Robert was 

born about 1444. 

He was a contemporary, and for the last 

years of his life, but how long we do not know, a fellow- 

townsman of Roger. He was three times married ; naming 

his wives in the order he mentions them in his Will, they 

were (1) Jone ; (2) Rose ; (3) Alson [? Alison] 

, who survived him, and was made executrix jointly with 

his son Thomas. His Will is dated 28 February, 1490/1 ; 

it was proved 30 March, 1491,* and is recorded at Ipswich. 

His direction that his interment should be in St. Peter's 

Church-yard indicates that his home was in that Parish when 

he died ; but he owned an estate in the neighboring Parish 

* Suffolk Wills, Vol. Ill (1481-98), fo. 115.


of Washbrook, on or near which one of his sons resided, as 

will be seen below. His children named in his Will were : — 

4 i. Thomas, 2 as the executor, supposed to be the eldest son ; 

b. possibly about 1453, but more probably about 1465. 

5 ii. John, b. possibly about 1456, but more probably about 

1468; married Elizabeth . The 

date of his Will, 

printed hereafter, is somewhat indistinct in my copy ; 

while it appears to be 1500, it may be intended for 

1510 or 1512 ; it is recorded in the volume for 1513-18, 

and was proved 2 August, 15 15. If the date is 15 12, 

the later years of birth of his father and brother, as well 

as of himself, given above, are the more probable. 

6 iii. Alson (dau.) ; she was, by her name, the daughter of his 

third wife, but there is nothing in the brief Will to indi- 

cate her age with any certainty ; if our conjecture from 

her name is correct, she was probably the youngest of 

the three children, and may have been the wife of John 

Heynys [? Haynes], one of the executors of her father's 

Will. 

WILL OF ROBERT MERVYN. 

En oei nomine 2lmen the last day of the monythe of fevyrrer 

[1 490/1] In good mende I Robert Mervyn geve and bequethe my 

sowle to godd to our lady seynt Mary And to y e blysyde company of 

Hevyn And my body to be beryyd in the chyrche yerd off seynt 

Petyrs of ippyswych. 

Also I bequethe to the hyye Awtyr for my tithys forgetyn xijd 

Also I geve to y e Crosse iij sylver sponys Also I geve to Alsan 

my wyfe my place and stuffe Also I wyll that my hous in Wasch- 

broke be sold And a prest syngynge for me for my wyfys Jone 

and Rose in the cherche of Seynt Petrys a fore seyyd Also I geve 

to ye grey fryyrs xx lid Also I geve to Jhesus . . . iiij4 Also I geve 

to Alson my dowter vjs. viijd. Also I geve to my sone John xijd


Also I wyll y l Alson my wyfe be chose executryx Thomas Mervyn 

my sone And John Heynys. 

Proved at Ipswich 30 March 1491. 

St. Peter's is another of the old Parish Churches of Ips- 

wich, and an inventory of its property is given in " Domes- 

day." It stands on the corner of St. Peter's and College 

Streets ; its most remarkable feature is its fine square and 

battlemented tower, built of flint-stone, which in 1553 con- 

tained a chime of four bells, in more recent times increased 

to six. In this tower there was, in .the time of Robert Mar- 

vin,* an "image of our Lady," for "painting and leading" 

which, a legacy of 33^. 4^. was bequeathed in 1506, and a 

number of other legacies of ancient date are chronicled by 

Wodderspoon.f 

The building, "fine but sombre looking," was repaired 

with good judgment about 1830. Notwithstanding its age, 

it contains few monuments of any note ; previous to the 

Reformation there was an emblem of the Trinity carved in 

stone over the porch, with symbols of the Passion — the 

crown of thorns and the sponge, "all of which, with the 

altar rails," says William Dowsing in 1643, " I ordered to 

break in pieces." A very ancient stone font, of curious con- 

struction, escaped the hand of the destroyer, and is still 

* It is proper to say here that in view of the variations in spelling the name we fol- 

low the modern usage of the family ; er was and is pronounced ar in England, and the 

name of the emigrant Matthew is spelled Marvyn and Marvinn, etc., on the Custom 

House Books of 1635. 

f See " Memorials of the Ancient Town of Ipswich," as cited.


preserved ; it is square, and the bason is sculptured with 

animals, in later Norman style ; the pillar and plinth which 

support it are of more recent date. 

In the rear of the Church, at the south-east end of the 

Church-yard, is " Wolsey's Gate," the only relic of the fine 

buildings erected for a college by the famous Cardinal. A 

picture of this Gate, showing also the lofty tower of St. 

Peter's and a portion of the Church at the left, is given by 

Wodderspoon. The value of the "living" in 1895 was ^280. 

The earliest list of the curates which I have found begins 

in 1604. In 1895 St. Peter's was in population the second 

Parish in Ipswich, and the Rev. William Berry was the vicar. 

The monastery of the "Grey Friars," a Franciscan order, 

was in the Parish of St. Nicholas, a little to the south-west 

of that Church. It stood A on the bank of a stream called 

the Gipping, now covered over. It was founded in the last 

decade of the thirteenth century by Sir Robert Tiptot, of 

Nettlestead, who died in 25 Edward I (1297). It was well 

endowed, as shown by the long list of its possessions re- 

turned to Henry VIII,* when so many of the religious houses 

were suppressed and their property taken by the crown. 

The names and gifts of its benefactors, many of whom, and 

especially of the family of its founder, were buried in its 

grounds, may be found in the Ipswich records. Here there 

was a printing press before 1500, on which Indulgences r and 

other religious documents were printed. A fragment of the 

ruins of the building was preserved in the garden of one of 

* See Wodderspoon, cited above, pp. 314 et seq.

Reinold and Matthew Mamin 29 

the citizens of Ipswich, and perhaps still remains. A pict- 

ure of the ruins, with St. Nicholas's Church in the back- 

ground, is given by Wodderspoon, p. 241, and a view of the 

old Priory was long preserved in the vestry of that Church. 

The "Crosse" to which Robert leaves three "sylver 

sponys," raises an interesting question : while it may have 

had some connection with the "high altar" which he re- 

members, it seems more probable that it was the predecessor 

of the famous " Ipswich Cross " which stood in the Market 

Place. Wodderspoon describes this as a large octagonal 

structure of wood, supported by eight stone pillars, and hav- 

ing a circular roof, terminated in the centre by a spiral point 

carried to a considerable height, which was surmounted by a 

small stone cross on which stood a well-executed figure of 

Justice with her usual attributes. The building was twenty- 

seven feet in diameter, and fifty from the ground to its top 

it was erected about 15 10 by Edmund Daundy, a relative of 

Wolsey, and stood until 18 12. If our conjecture is correct, 

there must have been an earlier Cross than Daundy's, 

which one authority says was the first. Crosses in market 

places, erected as preaching stands, and for public conven- 

ience, are of great antiquity. 

Whether Roger and Robert of Ipswich were brothers, or 

even relatives, we do not know. As bearing on this, it may 

be noted that we find the Christian names of each, and of 

their sons, in various families of later generations ; 

shown above, had a son Thomas ; 

Thomas 

Robert, as 

of Ipswich, whose 

wife was Anne, had a son and grandson Thomas ; 

Robert of 

;

30 


Ramsey [ ? grandson of Roger], had grandchildren Thomas 

and Anne ; 

Ann, his sister, had grandsons Thomas and 

Robert ; and the first Reynold a brother Thomas and a 

nephew Roger, and John is of very frequent occurrence ; but 

whether these are merely coincidences, or point to some 

relationship between the Ipswich families, cannot be deter- 

mined with our present knowledge. 

SECOND GENERATION. 

2 John 2 {Roger) was apparently living in Ipswich when 

his father died. As he was made executor of his father's 

Will jointly with his mother, in 1475, he must have been 

of legal age at that time to assume the duty. We there- 

fore place his birth about 1453. The date of his death 

is unknown. So far as we have been able to discover, 

he left no Will, and we know nothing further of him 

with certainty ; but there are some grounds for supposing 

that he may have been the grandfather of Reynold of Ram- 

sey and his brothers. If the Marvins of Harwich and Ram- 

sey were descended from the Ipswich families, they of course 

came from one of the sons of Robert 1 or from the John under 

notice. Either of these, by their ages, might have been the 

grandfather of Christian and her brothers of Ramsey, whose 

father's name has not been discovered ; Thomas 

of Harwich, 

and Robert of Ramsey and his sister Ann (mentioned later), 

were clearly of the third generation, reckoning Roger and 

Robert as of the first; while the brothers and sister of the 

first Reynold known to us, were as clearly of the fourth.


From his name and age, Thomas 8 of Harwich may be the 

son of the executor of the Will of Robert, 1 and we so assign 

him ; but the Wills show that that Thomas 8 left but one son, 

and cannot have been the father of Thomas 4 of Ramsey and 

his brothers. Robert 1 had a grandson Robert, as appears 

from the Will next cited, and by his age he might be the 

brother of Thomas of Harwich ; but there is no allusion to 

Ann in that Will, and we know that Robert of Ramsey had 

a sister of that name. It is hardly probable therefore that 

the latter Robert is the one named in the Will of John (5), 

given below. In view of these facts, and because we know 

that Reynold had a nephew Roger, a brother and nephew 

John, and that another brother owned lands in Suffolk, we 

think it possible that the John under notice may have had 

the children named below, and we place them here, leaving 

the correctness of the conjecture to be proved or disproved 

by future investigation ; the order and date of birth is of 

course unknown. 

7 i. A son (? John), 8 b. about 1480, and the father of John, 

Reynold, etc., named below. 

8 ii. Robert, of Ramsey, b. about 1490; mar. Isbell ; d. 

in December or January, 1556/7. 

9 iii. Ann, who married Robert Borflete, probably of Harwich ; 

among her children were Robert, John and Thomas, as 

4 

Thomas 2 

will be seen below. 

(Robert)^ apparently of Ipswich when his 

father died, was born about 1465, as stated above. He was 

made one of the executors of his father's Will, and therefore


thought to be the eldest son. The date of his death is not 

known. For reasons given above it seems probable that he 

was the father of 

10 Thomas, 3 of Harwich, Essex, b. about 1490 or earlier; mar. 

Anne ; d. in Harwich, November or December, 1550. 

5 John 2 {Robert), of Washbrook, Suffolk, was probably 

born about 1468 ; he married Elizabeth , who 

survived 

him. He died in June, 1500, or more probably 15 12 (see 

pp. 25, 26), in Washbrook, where his father owned an estate 

which his Will directed should be sold ; whether this passed 

into the hands of John, or whether he had a home of his own 

there before his father removed to Ipswich, we cannot tell. 

As will be seen by his Will below, John also had a "tene- 

ment with appertenaunces " in Great Belstead, "lately called 

Smythys " [ ? Smyth's], very likely the name of its previous 

owner, and from the manner in which it is mentioned, re- 

cently acquired ; and we note that the Will of Rose, the 

widow of his son John, makes her "brother, John Smythe," 

her supervisor. The old Church in Great Belstead was 

dedicated to St. Mary. In the return of Church property 

in 1547, this Church had a bell, "which was broke v years 

past," and was " solde for xxx s . . . which 

is and shalbe 

Imployed to y e reperacs of y e chvrch roffe and y e palyng of 

y e chvrch-yerd." It was replaced in 1553. 

The location of the " Copy-lands " which are mentioned 

does not certainly appear, but it seems to have been in Great 

Belstead. This was a class of property subject to the pay-

Reinold and MattJiczv Marvin 33 

ment of a nominal ground-rent to the lord of the manor : 

fourpence an acre for good land was thought a fair rate in 

the time of Richard II (1381).* Such lands passed by the 

Will of a tenant (as will be seen in several of the Wills be- 

low) in the same manner as free-hold, except that they were 

subject, on the death of a tenant, to the payment of "fines" 

to the lord, and certain court fees.f In this case the " Lord 

of the manor " was the Prioress and sisterhood of an Augus- 

tinian nunnery, founded in Dartford by Edward III, in 1355, 

whose rights entitled them to collect a small annual rental, 

and to receive a portion of the "fines" when the copy-hold 

passed to a new tenant. 

John Marvin directed that his interment should be in the 

Washbrooke Churchyard ; 

the Church in this little Parish 

*See Guest, " Handbook of English History," p. 301. The term " copy-hold " came 

from the technical expression, " tenure by copy of the court-roll, at the will of the lord, 

according to the custom of the manor " ; meaning, says one authority, that it is " tenure 

of land which is part of a manor, the title being evidenced by the court-rolls of the 

manor, and the right of the owner being in conformity with the immemorial customs 

thereof." 

t The " fine of lands " was an ancient method of transferring property which was 

more efficacious than an ordinary conveyance. An amicable suit was brought, in 

which one party, called the cognizee, claimed that the owner or seller, called the cog- 

nizor, was wrongfully withholding the land from the complainant; leave to compromise 

this fictitious suit was granted by the court, the cognizor acknowledging the withhold- 

ing, and the business was concluded by what was called the " foot of the fine," em- 

bodied in an indenture beginning " Ilaec estfinalis concordia," [This is the final agree- 

ment] which set forth the parties, the time and place of agreement, etc., and a note 

was made of the facts on the Court records. This was long the only way by which a 

married woman could convey lands. The " feet " of old fines are often of great impor- 

tance as evidence in pedigrees, and if the records of the transfers of the copy-holds 

mentioned in the various Wills we have found could be carefully investigated, it is very 

certain that much additional information concerning the wives (of whom in most cases 

we now know only their Christian names) and their families could be ascertained.

34 


bears the name of St. Mary ; the population at the present 

time is very small, and the living is now united with that of 

St. Peter's, Copdock. The children of John and Elizabeth, 

given in the order in which they are named in his Will, 

were : — 

ii i. Robert, 3 b. certainly as early as 1489, as he is one of the 

executors of his father's Will ; as first mentioned therein he 

is presumed to have been the eldest son : yet he survived 

his brother, who bequeathed him a certain interest in his 

lands, as will be seen by his Will, below, the conditions of 

which may he thought to indicate that John was the elder. 

Although, by his age, this might be Robert of Ramsay, yet 

as that Robert mentions a sister Ann, but no other sisters, 

while the Robert under notice had two sisters, neither of 

whom was an Ann, it seems very improbable that the two 

Roberts are identical. Nothing further has been found*. 

12 ii. John, of Chattisham, Suffolk; b. as early as 1491 ; mar. 

13 

Rose (Smythe ?) ; d. in Chattisham ; his Will is dated 27 

March, 1535 ; his widow d. in Little Belstead ; her Will is 

dated 25 April, 1557. 

iii. Alyce, b. . 

14 iv. Elizabeth, b. ; mar. Snape, and was living in 

1535- 

From the expression in his father's Will — " yff yt happen 

the seyd Robert " and his brother and sisters " to deye w' owt 

yssue," — it is inferred that none of the children were mar- 

ried when their father died. 

* The question has presented itself whether this Robert could have been the father 

of Reinold of Ramsey (16), but after a very careful study of the Wills I have reached 

the conclusion in the text.


It may be observed that the approximate dates of birth of 

Robert and John are based on the belief that their father's 

Will was made in 15 12 and not in 1500; if the latter be the 

true date, they are of course too late by as many years ; the 

expression " seke yn my boody hoell yn mynde," indicates 

that the Will was made in view of approaching death, so that 

whichever date be accepted, we cannot doubt that the sons 

were of age at that time ; the earlier date would imply that 

his son John married Rose quite late, for in her Will, made 

in 1557, she provides for the payment of a marriage portion 

to an unmarried daughter, — a daughter named in the Will 

of Rose's husband, John. He had then been dead twenty- 

two years, and if born in 1479 (twelve years before the con- 

jectural date assigned to him) he would seem to have been 

at least forty years old when his first child was born, while 

on the theory proposed he would have been only about 

twenty-eight. Finally, the date of probate, 15 15, corrobo- 

rates our theory, as we can hardly believe his estate re- 

mained unsettled for fifteen years. 

WILL OF JOHN MARVYN, SR. 

3Tn tlje name of (55otJ Slmen yn the yere of our Lorde God 

M'CCCCC and XIJ daye of June I John Marvyn the elder of 

Waschbrooke seke yn my boody hoell yn mynde make my testa- 

ment and laste wyll in maner foluynge ffyrst I bequeth my sowle 

to god Allmyghty to our lady seynt Mary and to all seyntes my 

body to be buryed in the cherch yerde of Waschebrook Item I 

bequeth to the heygh awter xx d Item I bequeth to Robert Marvyn 

and John Marvyn my sonys and to ther heyres of ther bodys law-

2,6 


fully begotyn my tenement w l the appertenaunces lately callyd 

Smythys leyeng in grete Belsted and all my Copy Londys wych I 

haue by Copy of the priorasse and Covent of Dertford to be be- 

twexe the seyd Robert and John egally and yff the seyd Robert and 

John schall Deye w* owt ysseu of ther bodyes laufully begotyn that 

then the seyd tenement w l the appertenaunces and the seyd copy 

Londe to remayne to the other brother and to hys yssue of hys 

body laufully begotyn and yff the seyd Robert and John fortune to 

deye w* owt yssue then I wyll the seyd tenement and Copy londe shall 

remayne to Alyce and Elyzabeth my dowghters and to ther heyres 

aftyr the forme aforseyd and yff yt happen the seyd Robert John 

Alyce and Elizabeth to deye w l owt yssue of ther bodys laufully 

begotyn Then I wyll the seyd tenement w* the appertenaunces 

schall be solde and don for my sovvle and all Crysten sowlys Also 

I wyll that Robert John Alyce and Elysabeth or ther heyres for the 

tenement aforeseyd schall kepe or doo to be kepte my yere mynde 

yn the parysch Cherch of Waschebrooke for the terme of xx li yere 

next immedyatly aftyr my naturall dethe Item I wyll that they 

schall kepe my xxx*i day yn the seyd cherch Item I wyll that my 

executors schall paye or doo to be payd to Elizabeth my wyff and 

to her executors and assynges x marke of laufully mony of Englond 

undyr thys manor foluynge That ys to sey in the feste of Alhalowes 

next comynge vj s viij d and yn the feste of Estyr next comynge vj s 

viijd and so yerly in the feste of Estyr payenge to the seyd Elizabeth 

her executors and assyngnes xiij s iiij d onto the forseyd Summ 

of x marke be payd and yff the seyd Elizabeth my wyff troobyll or 

cause to be trobyllyd the forseyd Robert Marvyn and John Marvyn 

myn executors then I wyll that sche nor her executors her assignes 

schall never have the forseyd x marke Item I wyll that Elizabeth 

my wyff schall have all sweche stuffe of Howswold as sche brought 

w* her to me Item I wyll that sche schall have iiij keys a stere 

boloke and a Cowe boloke and a Calffe a sowe iiij pyggys a Coke 

vj Hennys and vj Chekyns Item I wyll that the seyd Elyzabeth


schall have xiij chepe iiij lambys and viij 1 ' wooll Item I wyll that 

my executors schall delyver to the seyd Elyzabeth my wyff viij 

bushelles whete and iiij busshelles malte Item I wyll the seyd 

Elizabeth shall have all her apparell Item I bequeth to Elyzabeth 

my dowghter her mothers gyrdell The Resydevve of all my 

goodys not bequethyd I geve to my sonys Robert Marvyn and John 

Marvyn whom I make my executors to fulfyll thys my last wyll 

Item I wyll John Benet and William Warde delyver astate to my 

sonys acordynge to thys my wyll wytnesse of thys premyss Syr 

Amy Lecke vicar of Waschebrook John Woode of Lytyll Wenham 

Stephyn Pascall of the same John Coppynge of Brantham Raffe 

Pulford and John Bury of Waschebrooke 

Proved at Ipswich 2 August, 15 15* 

A few of the expressions in the above Will may receive 

explanation: — "All Hallows" is the feast of All Saints, or 

1 November ; 

Easter always occurs about five months later. 

" Keys " is a provincial English plural of cow, from the 

Anglo-Saxon cy, having the same meaning (equivalent to 

kine) ; a " Cowe-boloke " was also a provincial term for a 

young cow or heifer. The " chepe " (sheep) and other farm 

stock disposed of, show that he was a farmer, while his direc- 

tions to "John Benet and William Warde" prove that he 

was a landlord as well, leasing portions of his estate. From 

these items, and from the bequest of ten marks to his wife, 

it is evident that he was a man of fair estate for the period. 

A mark was 13^., 4^., and ten marks was therefore J~6, 13s., 

4a 7 

. The relative value of money was not as great as in the 

Recorded at Ipswich, Suffolk Wills, Book VII (1513-18), fo. 94. There is no 

punctuation in these Wills. The spelling has been closely followed.

38 


preceding century, but this bequest was about equivalent to 

twelve times the corresponding amount in our day, or not 

far from $400. A pleasant bit of sentiment shines out in 

the legacy to the daughter bearing her mother's name, who 

was to have "her mother's gyrdell." This, in the olden 

time, was the wedding-gift of a newly married wife to her 

husband ; evidently he had treasured it carefully. 

7 

THIRD GENERATION. 

8 son, name unknown, but possibly John ( ?John? 

Roger 1 

), born about 1480. The "Widow Marvin," mention- 

ed in " Exchequer Lay Subsidy, Essex 108/237, 32 Henry 

VIII," as taxed in Ramsey in 1540 "on her movables xv^.," 

may have been his relict. His children were certainly four, 

and possibly six or seven ; three of them lived in Ramsey, 

and their names are learned from the Wills of two of the 

sons, printed below. While only one of these mentions a 

sister, a later Will seems to show there were other daugh- 

ters. The dates of birth are unknown, but some of them 

may be learned approximately from the same sources. 

In the following list of the children of (?) John, we first 

give those certainly known to be brothers, and their sister, 

and next those thought to be sisters from the allusions in the 

Will of John 5 Marvin, who died in 1571, with the reasons for 

the conclusions reached. 

15 i. John 4 believed to be the eldest son; and b. possibly 

about 1510. He married and had issue, as appears by the 

Will of his brother Thomas, who does not mention their


names ; but some of these, as will be seen below, may be 

learned from the Will of John 5 who we suppose was one of 

them. 

— 16 ii. Rynalde, of Ramsey, as he signed his name, b. about 

17 

1514; mar. Johan , who survived him. He died in 

1554 or 1555, leaving issue. This Rynalde or Reynold, was 

the ancestor of the New England Marvins. 

iii. Thomas, of Ramsey, b. about 1518; mar. as her second 

husband, Mrs. Barbara Brett; his Will, dated 14 October, 

1561, has no date of probate. 

18 iv. Christian (dau.), b. about 152 1 ; mar. Thomas Herde, of 

Ramsey, and as appears by the Will of her brother Thomas, 

made in 1561, she had then recently died, leaving issue, for 

that refers to the " chyldren y e which " Herde " latly had by 

his lat wyf Christian Marven : 

" but it does not show how 

many there were, or their names. Thomas Herde was made 

executor of the Will of his wife's brother Thomas, and wit- 

nessed that of Robert (8) and John, 5 1571. The Herdes 

were a leading family in Ramsey, and Ramsey Hall, first 

mentioned in 1599, says Morant, belonged to a John Herde 

in that year. Others of the name are found in Harwich, 

and a John Herd,* of "Ockley" Parva, witnessed the Will 

of John Marvin of that Parish in 1584-5, and may have 

been a son of Christian and Thomas. 

Christian is the only daughter of whom we have certain 

knowledge, but the Will of John Marvin, 1571, who it 

* The Harwich Register has the marriage of John Hearde, of Oakley Parva, bach- 

elor, and Dorothy Harvey, spinster, 4 May, 1614; " this John died soon after, leaving 

a son John, who was buried at Harwich, 18 June, 1618, previous to which his mother 

Dorothy had married as her second husband " Hugh Brandham, surgeon." " Cath- 

eren Herde " who married Robert Kynge, at Harwich, 23 August, 1577, and possibly 

the William Herde, to whom reference is made in the Will of John Marvin, 1571, 

may have been relatives, but this has not been established.

40 


seems must have been the son of John (15) as already stated, 

mentions an "Aunte Cooper" and an "Aunt Maryon Swat- 

tocke ;" to the children of the latter he leaves a legacy without 

naming them, and of her we know nothing further. He 

also leaves a contingent bequest of ^20 to the children of 

John Cooper, of Harwich, and £,\o to the children of Thomas 

Cooper of the same town. It may be that the father of John 

Marvin married a Cooper, and that these were her brothers 

but as John leaves money to his Aunt and her son Roger, 

rather than to her husband, and, later in the same Will, to 

the children of John and Thomas Cooper rather than to their 

fathers, it seems more probable that the relationship of the 

testator was with the wives rather than with their husbands. 

If this inference is correct we should add the following as 

daughters belonging to this family. The order of birth is 

unknown. 

19 v. Maryon, 4 b. ; mar. Swattocke, and had issue 

living in 1570; it is clear that this Maryon cannot be the 

Maryon who was the daughter of John (12), of Chattisham, 

for it is evident from his Will, as will be seen, that she had 

no brothers, and that she mar. (? Christian) Alderman. 

20 vi. Daughter (? Ursula), b. ; mar. Thomas Cooper, of 

Ipswich, and had issue living in 1570. He may have been 

the " bere bruer " mentioned in the Will of Anne Marvin 

below. The names of their children have not been found ; 

we note as giving a possible clue, that the St. Nicholas 

(Harwich) Parish Register has the record of the baptism of 

a Martha, dau. of Thomas Cooper, 17 June, 1585, and of a 

7'homas, son of Thomas and Ursula, bap. 1 September, 

1588 ; Ursula died a few days later and was buried 6 Sep- 

;


tember. It would seem both from the Will of Anne, widow 

of Thomas Marvin, of Harwich, and from that of John Mar- 

vin (157 1), that Thomas Cooper, of Ipswich, was in some 

way connected with them, but whether these entries on the 

Harwich Register relate to the same Thomas Cooper, is 

doubtful. If this be the Ipswich Thomas, he must have 

removed to Harwich after the death of John Marvin, and 

those recorded there were his youngest children. 

vii. Daughter (? Margaret), b. ; mar. John Cooper, of 

Harwich. We find on the Harwich Register a John Cooper, 

of Harwich, who was bur. there 29 July, 1580, who had a 

wife Margaret, bur. 20 December, 1587, and her Will was 

proved 24 January, 1587/8. Their children were (1) Roger, 

b. before 1559; (2) Christian, bap. 16 April, 1560; (3) 

Richard, bap. 19 July, 1562; (4) Owen, bap. 14 August, 

1564. The name of the eldest son, Roger, is from John 

Marvin's Will ; the others are from the Harwich Register 

but as this is the only John recorded at Harwich as having 

children before 1570, and the only one whose death is found 

on that record, it seems quite probable that he is the one 

named in the Will, and that John's " Aunte Cooper " was 

Margaret. Roger is deemed to be her eldest son, being the 

only one of her children named by John, who gives him a 

small legacy, while his bequests to the others are contin- 

gent. The name Roger Cooper is often found on Harwich 

Records ; a Roger was taxed there " on his movables " in 

154°. 33 s ; Ad-, who may have been the father of John, but 

this remains to be proved. The marriages of a number 

of that name are also given on the same Record ; but in 

every case except the one above, so far as my informant 

observed, the maiden name of the wife is mentioned.* 

* For some further notes on the Coopers, see No. 25, below. 

;

42 


8 Robert 3 (John, 2 Roger 1 

), of Ramsey, born about 1490, 

or earlier, as he mentions five or more grandchildren in 

his Will, made 10 December, 1556. His father's name 

has not been certainly found, but the reasons for the conjec- 

tural assignment given have been stated on a previous page. 

He married Isabell , who survived him. As his Will 

was proved 19 January, 1556/7, he evidently deceased not 

far from 1 January, 1557.* His widow's Will is dated 2 Jan- 

uary, 1559/60, and was proved 6 June following, which fixes 

the date of her death within a few months. Robert was 

buried in St. Michael's Church, Ramsey. 

He owned houses and lands, both free and copy-hold, in 

Ramsey, which he gave to his widow in life tenure ; estates 

called "Boseman's" and "Bodies" he conveys under condi- 

tions, for £60, to James Hewit or Hughitt, believed to have 

been his grandson ; he also owned land called " Puttyte's," 

in Great Oakley, which he bequeathed to Francis Borflete, 

eldesjt son of his sister Ann. He had been a resident 

of Ramsey for many years before his death, as he was 

taxed ten shillings on his " movables " in that Parish in 

1540. 

He names "godsons" Reynold and John Marvin: as 

neither his Will nor his wife's mentions any son, these can- 

not have been his grandchildren, as were the godsons of 

* This Will is dated, as will be seen, " in the third and fourth year of Philip and 

Mary." The latter was proclaimed Queen 19 July, 1553, and married Philip in July, 

1554 ; December, 1556, was therefore in the fourth year of her reign, and fixes the date 

above given,


Anne, wife of Thomas (10), and we are unable to identify 

them with certainty. They may have been and I think were 

John (15) and his brother, Reynold (16), who I suppose 

were Robert's nephews. 

Robert's Will does not name his children, but seems to 

indicate that he had three daughters and no sons: the 

name of one daughter we learn from the Will of his 

widow. 

22 i. Daughter, 4 ? b. about 1515, or earlier; mar. Hewit, 

and died before her father, leaving (1) James? (2) William* 

Our reason for believing Mrs. Hewit to be the eldest daugh- 

ter is that Robert gives half his " stuffe " to his wife, and 

she is to have his houses and lands in Ramsey during her 

life, while the other half goes at once to James Hewit, 

who is to take the Ramsey houses and lands on the death 

of the widow. James is also to have Boseman's and Bodies 

on paying £60 to the estate, of which he is appointed one 

of the executors; out of this sum he is to pay the lega- 

cies, among them £10 to "his brother William Hewit" 

within three years. As so large a portion of the estate is 

given to him, and as we know that Robert certainly had one 

daughter living, the gift and the trust reposed in him, I be- 

lieve, justifies our inference, and shows that James was cer- 

tainly, and William nearly or quite of age in 1556. If these 

inferences are correct, their mother must have been the 

eldest daughter, for the children of the other two ( " Siss- 

ely," who was undoubtedly a daughter of Robert, and , 

the wife of Beteryche) are shown to be not of age by the 

* A " William Heweyt" is found on the Parish Register of St. Nicholas, Harwich, 

who was buried there 18 December, 1571, but whether the same who is named in the 

Will is not known.


Wills. Further, as no reference whatever is made to Mrs. 

Hewit, but half the estate is to go at once to her sons, and 

most of the remainder on the death of the widow, it can 

hardly be doubted that the mother had deceased. 

23 ii. Daughter (?), b. ; mar. Beteryche, and had (1) 

Matthew, 5 and (2) John. These sons, as stated above, were 

not of age when Robert died, but as Matthew was to have 

£4, which was to go to John, in case the elder brother died 

before he became of age, which is a larger sum than is indi- 

vidually given to those certainly known to be Robert's grand- 

children, we are disposed to regard Matthew and John as 

the children of a daughter who also died before her father. 

An Alice Beteryche is given a small legacy by Reynold, 

but whether of this family is not known. 

24 iii. Sissely [Cicely], b. about 1525 or earlier; mar. John 

Blosse, and had (1) John 5 the eldest, (2) Robert, (3) Thomas, 

(4) Anne, (5) Bridget, and (6) a child, born in 1560 as the Will 

of Isabell shows. The dates of birth of all but the last are 

unknown ; 

clearly however the eldest must have been only a 

child, when their grandfather died in 1556/7. John Blosse 

is made executor of Robert's Will with Hewit, and sole ex- 

ecutor of Isabell's. The family of Bloss, — the name some- 

times spelled Blois,— is found in Ipswich in the Parish of 

St. Nicholas as early as 1448, and in that town or its vicinity 

from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth and later. 

WILL OF ROBERT MARVEN.* 

3Tn tl)t name of {Jlrti &men the x daye of December and in the 

thurd and fouerthe yere of Philip and Marye bie the grace of god 

of ynglande spayne ffraunce both Cecilles Jerusalem and yrlande 

* The original is at Somerset House, London, — Commissary London, Essex and 

Herts. January, 1556-7. That has no divisions into paragraphs, which are made 

here for convenience of reference.

Remold and Matthew Marvin 45 

Kinge and quene defendors of the fayth archedukes of austria Dukes 

of Myllen burgundie and brabande countice of Hasporge flaunders 

and Tyroll I Robert Marven of Ramsey in the diocesse of London 

beinge in good and whole mende and of good Remembraunce 

thankes be unto allmightie god doe make and ordeine thys my last 

Will and testamente in Manner and forme folowinge 

fyrst I bequethe my Soule to allmightie god and to the celestiall 

companie of yeven mye bodye to be beriede in the churche of Ram- 

sey aforsayd Item I geve To the comen boxe in Ramsey xlr. 

Item I geve to Issbell my wyffe my howses and landes that I 

have in Ramsey bothe fre and coppie unbequethed for terme of hur 

lyffe and after hur Decesse I wyll that Jemes Hewit to have the 

saide houses and landes bothe fre and coppie with ther apurte- 

naunces ther unto belonginge to him and to his heyers and assigners 

Item I geve and bequethe unto issbell mye wyve vj Kene xx Shepe 

iij seme of whete and on seme of mistlene and iiij seme of barley to 

be payde this yere Item I geve unto the sayde issbell mie wyffe a 

horse Item I geve more unto the seid issbell mye wyffe the on 

halfe of mye howshollde stuffe with halfe the chese and hallfe the 

swyne 

Item I geve and bequeth the other hallfe of mye howshollde 

stuffe unto James Hewite withe hallfe the chese and hallfe the 

swyne to be equallie devide betwene them in part and part lyke 

Item I doe sell mye lande called bosemans & bodies unto James 

Hewyt for iij score poundys to fullfyll mye wyll and paye my legace 

Item I geve and bequethe unto Frauncis borflete mye lande in 

miche Okeley called puttyttes To hym and to his heyers and 

assigners 

Item I wyll my brother in lawe Robert borflete and mye sister 

to have the saide land called puttites till frauncis ther sone come 

to the age of xxj yeres and yf it fortune frauncis to depart this 

present lyffe before he come to the age of xxj yere with ought yssu 

of his bodie lawfullye begotten than I will the sayd lande be soullde

46 


to the most avantage bye the handes of myne executors and the 

monye therof to be equalye devided amonge hys brethern and sys- 

terne that be than a lyve parte and parte lyke 

Item I geve and bequeth to mye syster an borflete and to her 

children x 1J to be eqwallye devidede amoge them part and parte 

lyke escepte fraunces and fyve pounde therof to be payde within 

on whole yere next after my decese that ys to saye to mye syster 

an borflete Robert borflete Thomas borflete John borflete and 

marye borflete to eche of Them xxs. a pece and the next yere eme- 

diatlye folowinge I will the other fyve poundes be payde whiche 

makethe ye full of the x 1 * unto my sayde syster and to her chyll- 

dren as before Rehersede 

That payment dyschargede Item than I will that John blosses 

chylldren to have x 11 to be payde within fyve yeres next emediatlye 

folowinge and To be equallye devidede amonge them parte and 

parte lyke that is to saye to everye on of them x\s. a pece and yf 

onye of them die before they come to a lawfulle age then I will his 

part be eqwallye devidede amonge his brethern and system that be 

than a lyve of the whiche x 1J I will that xIj. be payde yerlye till ye 

whole some be payd 

Item I geve to mathew beteriche iiij !i to be payde at the age of 

xxj yers and yf mathew beteriche die before he cume to the age of 

xxj yeres than I will that John beteryche his brother to have the 

sayd iiij 11 

Item I will James Hewit shall paye to his brother Willm Hewit 

x 1 ' with in thre yeres next emediatlye after my decesse 

Item I geve to the reparinge of Ramsey bryge iiij 1 ' to be payd 

whan they shall goe in hand withe the makinge of yt 

Item I geve annes marten a bullocke Item I give to Marget 

Knight and alles Knight eche of them a flocke bede and all that 

belongethe unto yt Item I geve unto fraunces borflete a spruse 

hutch Item I geve to Reynollde marven mye godson xxj. Item 

I geve Thomas churcheman v]s. viij//. Item I geve Katerin

Rcinold and Matthew Marvin 47 

Johnson vjj. viij


to Jhesu Cryste never the lesse syke of body do therfore make thys 

my presente testamente in maner & forme folowyng that ys to saye 

ffyrst I humly Commend my sowle unto allmyghty god and my 

body to be beryid in the Churche yard of Ramse afforsayde 

Item I do geve unto my dowtters eldyst sunne John blosse fyffe 

shepe and a Chyste Item I do geve unto Robard blosse fyffe shepe 

Item I do geve unto Thomas blosse fyffe shepe Item I do geve 

unto Anne blosse fyffe shepe And my greate brasse pott and a 

Kettell & ye best platter with ij other platters a Sawsser & a Can- 

dylstyke and a Chyste Item I do geve unto bregett blosse a kowe 

a letyll brasse pot and a ketyll & iij platters a Sawsser & a Can- 

dylstyke and a Chyste Item I do geve to y l whyche my dowghter 

ys w'all when yt shall plesse god y l 

to thys worlde a browne boloke of twelmonthe olde 

she maye be delyveryd of yt in 

more I do geve unto alles starlyng the Red boloke of twelmonthe 

olde & a Rede petycote a payer of wosted slevys ij Cerchers & a 

payer of shettes Item I do geve unto Willm Lane a blake boloke 

of xij monthys olde and a platter Item I do geve unto Churche- 

mans wyffe xij d and a pewter dyche Item I do geve unto Jone 

Pope my selffe grow froke Item I do geve unto the wedow sale 

my Russette petycote Item I do geve unto y e wedow cokleffe 

xij d Item 1 do geve to y e wedow thurlthorpe xij d Item I do geve 

unto John thurlthorpe xij d ij bochelles of whete & ij bochelles of 

mawlte Item I do geve unto Rosse Robynson a thewe Item I do 

geve unto to sys pope a thewe Item I geve to maryan Worte a 

thewe 

Item I do geve unto every won of my godchyldryn xij d a pece 

all the Reste of my goodes natt gevyn nor bequethyd I do geve 

them to syssely blosse my dowghter also I do make John Blosse 

my executor of thys my last will & testamente for I pute my trust 

in hym he beyng my sune in lawe thesse men baryng wytnes 

thomas skott & Willm Lane w l 

others 

6 th June before Mr Peply copy for the Register


On Thomas Herde I have already commented. Thomas 

Churchman had a small legacy from both Reynold and Rob- 

ert Marvin, and his wife is remembered by Isabell, but we 

find nothing to indicate any relationship. Katherine John- 

son was not improbably connected with John Johnson, named 

by Reynold (16). [See notes on Reynold's Will below.] A 

"seme" was eight bushels; "mistlene," spelled variously in 

old English writings, " mistlyne," " mixtelyne " and " mas- 

len," from the Anglo-Saxon maslen and Latin miscco, is the 

name given to a mixture of different sorts of grain, usually 

wheat and rye; of this mixture, called "miscellane" in some 

parts of England, " maslen bread " was made. A " flocke " 

bed was one filled with the shearings of woolen cloth, a ma- 

terial then used for stuffing mattresses, furniture, etc. 

" Cer- 

chers " probably were kerchiefs, — in old English " cover 

chiefs," from couvrechef, head coverings. The material of 

the " selffe grow froke " was serge, — at that period a coarse 

(gros) cloth, partly silk and partly woolen. " Thewe," also 

written t/ieave, and possibly so in the Will, was a ewe of a 

year old,* a common gift to a farmer's maid-servants at that 

period.f The "menthemend" (month's mind) and "yere 

mend " (year's mind) were services of the Roman Church 

for the "repose of a soul" thirty days and a year from 

the date of a funeral. 

* Wright's Provincial Dictionary, sub voce : w and v were often transposed in the 

Essex dialect, especially on the coast. 

f See the Will of Reynold Marvin (r.6), infra, who bequeathed a ewe to three of his 

maids.

50 


9 Ann 3 (John, 2 Roger 1 

), is shown to have been a sister of 

Robert (8) by his Will. The date of her birth is unknown ; 

she married Robert Borflete, probably of Harwich or Dover- 

court. Their children are named in their uncle's Will in the 

sequence given below, but whether this was the order of 

birth does not appear. These were (i) Francis*; (2) Robert 

(3) Thomas; (4) John ; (5) Mary. Of these children Francis 

is given " Puttytes " in Great Oakley, by his uncle, and his 

parents are to have it until he is twenty-one. If we may 

infer from this that he was the eldest son, it would indi- 

cate that Ann was much younger than her brother ; indeed 

none of her children were of age when he died in 1556/7. 

The name Borflete is occasionally found on the Parish Reg- 

ister of Harwich, but the record begins too late to give 

particulars of the marriage of Ann, or of the birth of her 

children, if that was their home. 

10 Thomas, 3 of Harwich (Thomas? Robert 1 

). If we are 

correct in believing him to be the son of Thomas (4), of Ips- 

wich, he must have been born as early as 1490, which date is 

measurably confirmed by the fact that his Will shows he had 

grandchildren living when he died. His death occurred be- 

tween 18 November, 1550, the date of his Will, and 17 De- 

cember following, the date of probate. In what year he 

removed to Harwich* has not been discovered, but he was 

taxed in 1540 "on his movables xvs." when he is called "of 

* At least two of his married daughters were living in Suffolk when he died ; this 

may perhaps indicate that Thomas lived there before he is found at Harwich. 

;


Harwich and Dovercourt," the former place being regarded 

as in some sense a dependency of the latter, in which the 

" mother Church " of the Parish was located. 

He married Anne , who survived him. He owned a 

house and garden in Harwich, where his widow resided until 

her death, and in her Will, made 30 March, 1558, and proved 

30 December following, she mentions some of its rooms and 

furnishings. From allusions in this Will it may be inferred 

that her husband was a shop-keeper in Harwich, and both 

Wills show that he owned other estates there beside his 

residence, to which the widow refers, while the list of her 

debtors proves that she had money to lend. Both husband 

and wife were buried, if the directions given in their Wills 

were observed, the former in the old Church of St. Nich- 

olas, Harwich, and the latter in the Church-yard which 

adjoins it. 

Harwich was the principal port and market-town for the 

Parishes in the north-eastern part of Essex ; it is seventy- 

two miles from London, and stands on a cliff of peculiar 

formation, which juts into the sea at the mouth of the Stour, 

having that river (which separates Essex from Suffolk) on 

the north and Orwell Haven on the south, making a good 

harbor. Two centuries ago there were but three principal 

streets in the place, called High, Church, and West streets, 

with numerous lanes or alleys. Its chief trade was from the 

fisheries carried on by its people, who supplied London with 

cod from the North Sea, and lobsters from the coast of Nor- 

way. Henry VIII made a royal visit to Harwich, 8 June, 

1

52 


1543, when we may imagine that Thomas and his family- 

were among those who welcomed him ; eighteen years later, 

12 August, 1 561, Queen Elizabeth visited the town, and she 

also spent several days there in her famous progress through 

Essex in 1579, when we cannot doubt the loyal people of 

many of the neighboring Parishes of Tendring Hundred 

thronged its streets to greet her. 

Harwich was incorporated in 13 18. Its Church, dedicated 

to St. Nicholas, was founded by the famous Roger Bigod, 

Earl of Norfolk, who died in 1306 ; it was a " chapel-of-ease " 

to the mother Church of All Saints, popularly called All- 

Hallows, at Dovercourt. The living was in the gift of the 

Prior and monks of Colne, who usually gave it to one of 

their own canons during his life. The Church stood near 

the centre of the town, and its quaint steeple was a land- 

mark for the mariner. The building consisted of a body, or 

nave, with two side aisles, a chancel " of one pace, and the 

roof leaded." At the west end of the nave was a low quad- 

rangular tower of stone, having upon its top an octagonal 

wooden frame, embattled, from which arose a wooden spire, 

all the wood-work covered with lead. In the steeple were 

five bells, a chiming clock, and on the outside of the tower 

three dials, placed on the north, west and south faces.* 

In 1820 the old building was demolished and a new Church, 

of light brick with stone buttresses, erected on the site ; 

this 

* " The History of Harwich and Dovercourt : Edited by Samuel Dale, London, 

1725." This contains two views of Harwich, in each of which the Church forms a 

pronlinent feature. See also Morant's Essex.


is nearly square, in perpendicular gothic style, with a double 

row of five windows on the sides with pinnacled buttresses 

between them ; on the front it has a square tower with cen- 

tral door and two windows above, the upper part having win- 

dows on the other sides also, with a clock dial in their lower 

portions ; the tower projects somewhat from wings on either 

side, which fill the angles between the tower and the body 

of the building. Each of these wings has pinnacled but- 

tresses on its angles and contains a large window in front 

with a door on the side and a lancet window above ; the 

wings and tower have their tops embattled, and from the 

latter rises a small steeple ; the bells, of which there is now 

a chime of eight, were also recast, and the organ rebuilt 

for the new Church; the total cost was about $100,000. 

Before the troubles in the middle of the sixteenth century, 

when Thomas and his family were members of this Parish, 

the Church contained " several tomb-stones which had brass 

effigies and inscriptions upon them, but was robb'd of all, as 

the Church of Dovercourt was. . . " Some remains of these 

were to be seen in Dale's time (1725). Bloom describes 

many of the tablets in the present building and the tombs in 

the Church-yard, which is enclosed by a fine iron fence, but 

these are of comparatively recent date ; the names upon 

the few remaining stones that have been preserved from the 

olden time have long been illegible. The only existing relic 

of the earlier edifice, of which I have found any mention, is 

a broken bowl of the ancient baptismal font, still to be seen 

in the northern vestibule.

54 


Some incidents in the history of this old town and its 

Church, which occurred in the time of Thomas and Anne 

Marvin, may be of interest. When the dissolution of the 

religious houses was ordered by Henry VIII, the right of 

advowson of Dovercourt and its Chapel at Harwich was 

taken from the Priory of Colne, and came to the crown. 

The Wardens of St. Nicholas, as Dale tells us, took advan- 

tage of the unsettled state of affairs, and, in the reign of 

Edward VI, stripped it of many of its possessions ; one hun- 

dred and eighty ounces of silver were taken away, with 

"many of its vestments and ornaments, the very altar-stone, 

and organ-case, and almost all things they could make money 

of." But "in August, 1553, by order of Queen Mary, the 

Parish was obliged to furnish new vestments, a new altar, 

surplices, candlesticks, censers, pax, etc.," in place of those 

which had been sold or destroyed. On 15 June, 1555, oc- 

curred the martyrdom of Bamford, Watts and others, who 

were sent to Harwich to be burned at the stake, for oppos- 

ing the teachings of the Roman Church and the return to 

power of its clergy. 

The curate of St. Nicholas, when Thomas Marvin died, 

was " Sir Robert " — Sir was a title of dignity often given to 

the clergy at that period* — but Newcourt does not mention 

him. He must have succeeded to the cure soon after the 

departure of John Roberts, who became Vicar of St. Nicho- 

las, 24 December, 1533, but went to " All-Hallows-the-Wall," 

London, 28 December, 1547, about which date Richard 

* See Will of John Marvin, Sr„ p. 37, supra.

Rcinold and Mattheiv Marvin 55 

Squyer was " Clerk " of All Saints, Dovercourt, and doubt- 

less also in charge of its Chapel at Harwich. " Sir Robert " 

was therefore very likely the "cleric" when the vestments, 

etc., were replaced, as mentioned above. Christian James 

was Vicar of the two Parishes from 23 June, 1558, when 

Philip and Mary presented Dovercourt " with a rectory, with 

the Chapel of Harwich annexed," and he was in charge when 

Thomas's widow, Anne, died. In 1895 the Vicar was the 

Rev. Henry Louis Norden, and the patron J. E. A. Gwynne, 

Esq. ; the value of the living is given as jQiyo, with a par- 

sonage, and the population of the Parish, 5475 ; it is in the 

Diocese of St. Alban's. 

From the Wills of Thomas and Anne we obtain the names 

of their children. Thomas mentions only his daughter Ellen, 

who was unmarried when her father died, but his wife names 

the others given below, all of them living in 1558. The 

order of birth has not been found, nor the Christian names 

of any of the daughters except Ellen. As one daughter had 

six children living when her mother died, she is presumed 

to have been the eldest child. 

25 i. Daughter (? Elizabeth), 4 b. about 1520, or earlier; mar. 

Roger Hawkyn, or Hawkins ; their children, given in the 

order they are named in their grandmother's Will were : 

(1) John 5 

; (2) Roger; (3) Henry ; (4) Thomas; (5) Rossc 

[Rose] ; (6) Elizabeth. This is all we know with cer- 

tainty ; whether the following facts relate to this family has 

not been shown, and they are given merely as having a pos- 

sible bearing: — The Exchequer Lay Subsidy, 108/237,

56 


names a John Hawkyn, of Tendring Hundred, Harwich 

and Dovercourt, as taxed "on his movables in 1540, xxxiiii - 

mid." and we note that Roger's eldest son was John : 

Thomas, the fourth child above, may be the Thomas of 

Harwich, whose dau. Elizabeth mar. 20 July, 1619, Roger, 

son of Roger Cooper, and had Thomas, bap. 21 May, 1620 ; 

she died a few days after, for the record says " Thomas, son 

of Roger Cooper, mariner, and Elizabeth his late wife, was 

buried 31 May, 1620." (St. Nicholas Parish Registers,* 

Harwich.) 

26 ii. Daughter, b. ; mar. Causston. He was a farmer, 

but his residence does not appear. They had three chil- 

dren living in 1558, whose names are not given, who evi- 

dently were not of marriageable age when their grandmother 

died. The name of Causston often appears on the Ipswich 

records, from 1444 to 1618, when a prominent member of 

the family died there. 

27 iii. Thomas, b. ; mar. Elizabeth , and had issue. 

I suppose him to be the Thomas recorded on the Harwich 

Register as buried in St. Nicholas Church, 8 October, 1577. 

28 iv. Daughter, b. ; mar. John Barker, a clothier, of Byl- 

ston, Suffolk : they had several children, not named, but 

their grandmother leaves " xxs. a piece to every won of 

them," which implies three or more as living in 1558. She 

may have been the second daughter. Bylston was once 

flourishing because of its woolen industry. I find it stated 

that at the time when the Barkers were living there it had 

a Chapel dedicated to St. Leonard — which has long since 

* Names of members of the Cooper family (frequently spelled Cowper) appear with 

great frequency on these Registers. The identity of Christian names in numerous 

cases at the same period, renders it impossible to establish beyond doubt the con- 

clusions given in the text and under No. 21, but it is proper to say these have been 

given only after careful search and comparison of the various entries. 

.


disappeared ; this was erected for the convenience of the 

people, most of whom lived at a distance from its Parish 

Church. The Parish has apparently been absorbed by its 

neighbors, for I can find no reference to it in the Clergy 

Lists.* 

29 v. Daughter, b. ; mar. John Lame [? Lamb], of "Trymle, 

Suffolk." Their children were : 

(1) Adam 5 

; (2) Richard. 

Lame and his brother-in-law Barker were made executors of 

the Will of Anne. 

Trimley, south-east of Ipswich, adjoins Nacton ; it has two 

Churches, St. Martin's and St. Mary's, which stand in the 

same Church-yard, contiguous to each other; "the steeple 

of the last, in ruins and overshadowed by lofty trees, is a 

picturesque object. St. Mary's was built by Thomas de 

Brotherton, son of Edward I, and his arms are to be seen 

over the door at the west end ; the arch of this, the princi- 

pal door, and that of a window in the ruined steeple, are 

very light and elegant." St. Martin's long had a " fryar with 

shaven crown, praying to God in these words, ' 

Miserere mei 

Deus,' which," says the iconoclast Dowsing, " we brake down 

Aug. 21, 1644, and twenty-eight cherubim, which we ordered 

taken down." The Rev. Mr. White suggests that this friar 

was a carving on the end of a bench or stall. Both of these 

Churches are in the Diocese of Norwich and the Deanery of 

Colneys. St. Mary's has a living of ,£380 and St. Martin's 

one of ^400 

30 vi. Daughter, b. : mar. 

; each has also a parsonage. 

Thomas Rycheman, of Ramsey. 

Though Anne does not call Rycheman her son, and does 

not mention his wife, yet his children are given the same 

amounts and under the same conditions as those of the other 

* Somewhat singularly there is a Bilston in Staffordshire, where there is a Church 

dedicated to St. Leonard.

58 


married daughters ; from this I infer that their mother was 

a daughter (possibly no longer living), especially as one of 

the children bore her grandmother's name. These children 

were (i) Ann h 

; 

(2) Angnys [Agnes]. 

31 vii. Ellen, b. ; unmarried in 1550 when her father died, 

and hence I suppose the youngest child, but her name does 

not appear in her mother's Will ; whether she deceased be- 

fore her mother or is one of the daughters whose husbands' 

names are given, we do not know ; if the former be the case, 

she was perhaps the wife of Rycheman. 

WILL OF THOMAS MARVYN.* 

3Jn tlje name of ptJ amen the xviij th Day of novembre in the 

yere of our Lord god 1550 I Thomas Marvyn of this towne of 

Harwiche &c make this my testament &c. ffirst I bequeth my 

soule to god &c and my body to be buried &c [sic] In the churche 

of Harwiche to the w ch I give and bequeth xx h' 

of Lawfull money 

of englaund in maner and forme under wryten Item I will the said 

xx 1 ' shall remayne in iiij of the moste Credeble and substancial per- 

sons of the said towne from tyme to tyme to the intent that they 

shall provid and by yere and yerly for the space of xx ti yeres as 

moche corne as shall or commeth [sic] to the some of xx s and the 

same corne to be geven to the pore ympotent Lame and nedy w*in 

the said towne of Harwiche aforesaid yere and yerly unto the said 

xx 11 be fully bestowed accordinge to this my Laste will 

Item I give to the Reparations of the said churche iij 1 ' Item I 

give to Sir Robert the curet of the said church x s 

Item to every one of my godchildren xij d apeece 

Item I give and bequeth to Elen my doughter xl h" and 

the money 

to be paid in thre yeres that is to say at the day of her mariage 

* The original is at Somerset House, London, — Commissary London, Essex and 

Herts. November, 1550. That has no divisions into paragraphs, which are made 

here for convenience of reference.


xx ]i And that day twelve month next ensuynge x 11 And that day 

twelvemonth next ensueyng that other x 11 in full contentacion and 

1 ' 

payment of the said xl 

Item I give to Anne my wief all my houses in Harwiche and all 

my other goodes both moveable and unmoveable to give and to sell 

at her pleasure whome I ordeyne and make my fathfull and sole 

Executrice of this my Last will she to dispose for my sowle and all 

chersten soules as she shall thinke moste pleasure to god and com- 

fort to my soule 

wytnes herof Richard Coper Rye Pett Thomas Paynter Ric Dowe 

and other were presente &c 

xvij° Decembris 

WILL OF ANNE MARVEN.* 

3Tn tl)c name of ffoB &men the xx daye of marche In ye ye re of 

ower Lord god Mccccclvij 1 ' And in the forte and fyfte yere of 

Phelype and Mary by the grace of god Kyng & quene of yngland 

spayne france both the siciles Jherusalem & yerland Defenders of 

ye fayth arche Dukys of austrych Dukys of Melayn borgondy & 

brabante Countes of Hanspurge flanders & tyrall I Anne Marven 

of the towne of Harwych In ye Counte of essex wedow in ye 

dyosys of Londyn beyng syke of body but of good & perfett Re- 

mambrans thankes be gevyn unto all myghtty god Here hath 

ordenyd thys my presente testament Contaynyng theryn my laste 

wyll Renowncyng all other formall wylles In maner & forme here 

after folowyng 

fyrst I do bequethe & geve my sowle unto Almyghty god my 

Creatur & Redemer He to do w l 

yt hys godly wyll & plesur And 

my body to be beryid in the church yard of Harwych afforsaide 

Item I do geve and bequethe unto ye mayntenance of y e towne 

marche of Harwich xxs. of good & laffull money of ynglande to be 

* Recorded at Somerset House, London, — Commissary London, Essex and Herts, 

December, 1558. The same remark as to paragraphs applies to all these Wills.


payde unto ye churche wardyns of ye same towne w l 

after my deth 

in won monyth 

Item I doo geve & bequethe unto tomas marven my godsonn the 

howsse y l 

I now dwel yn w* all & syngular th aportynances and 

gardyn that now doth belong unto ye said howse And he to geve 

unto hys suster Anne marven when the howse shall cume into ye 

forsayd tomas my godsuns handes xx 11 of good & laffull mony of 

yngland Allso I do geve unto tomas marven my sune my howsse & 

garden y' I now dwel yn w* all and synguler th apportynancys ther 

unto belongyn for terme of hys naturall lyffe upon thys condecyon 

y l 

the aforsayde tomas my sune doth kepe y e sayde howsse In good 

laullull and suffycente Reperasyons bothe for wynde & whether and 

after hys dyssersse I wyll yt shall Remayne unto tomas marven my 

godson my suns sun as yt [is] above wretyn 

Allso I do geve unto tomas marven my sune the newe best 

Chyste y' standyth now at my bedes fette And my to beste fether 

bedes and the ij bolsters that doth long to them iiij blankettes ij 

payer of shettes my ij best coverlettes of tapstery bothe ye bed- 

stedylles & the staynyd hangyns over the bedes w* the hedclothys vj 

cosshens of tapstery worke fyfe chayers All the staynyd hangyns y l 

now doth belong unto ye halle & parler And the curtayns to ye wyn- 

dows And allso ij long tabulles in ye hall a Rownd tabull & ij forms 

a Rownd tabull in the parler w l 

a forme A selond beme iiij halffe 

hundrydes a quarter of a hundryd & halffe a quarter of a hundryd 

and other small wayghts ij Chystes in the shope a coberd In ye 

Hall and an other cobard in the parler a bason & an ewer the best 

brasse pott & a letyll brasse pott vj pewter platters vj pewter dyches 

vj sawssers & ij Coper Ketylles all these passelles I do geve unto 

tomas my sune 

Allso I do geve unto elezabeth marven my sunes wyffe my best 

gowne & my best petycotte 

Allso I do geve unto my Dowghter Causstons iij chyldren to 

eche of them xx s to be payde unto them at the daye & days of ther


mareg And yf yt shall fortayne anny of thesse iij chyldryn to deye 

be fore they be of yers to be maryid and be not maryid then I wyll 

y' tomas marven my sune shall have and in Jhoye ther parte & 

partes y' be departyd towardes ye paying of hys dettes 

Allso I do gyve unto my dowghter Haukyns vj Chyldryn John 

Roger Henry tomas Rosse and Elezabeth Haukyn to every one of 

them at the daye & days of ther marege xx s a pece to be payde by 

the handes of myne executors or the executors and assyners of them 

And yf yt shall fortayne anny of these vj chyldryn to deye before 

they be maryid then I wyll that tomas marven my sune shall have 

and in Jhoye ther parte And partes y l 

the paying of hys dettes 

shalbe departyd towardes 

Allso I do geve unto my dowghter lams ij Chyldryn adorn & 

Rychard to eche of them xxs. to be payde also at the day of ther 

mareg and [if] anny of them do deye be fore they be maryid then 

I wyll y l my sune tomas marven have hys parte y' ys departyd to 

ward the paying of hys dettes 

Allso I do geve unto my dowghter barkers chyldryn to every won 

of them xx s a pece to be payde also at y e daye & days of ther 

mareg And yf anny of them do deye be fore they be maryid then I 

wyll y* my sune tomas have hys or ther parttes y l 

ward y e paying of hys dettes 

ys departyd to 

Allso I do geve unto tomas Rychemans ij Chyldryn anne & 

angnys Rycheman to every won of them xx.r. to be payde unto them 

at y e daye of ther maryeg And yf they fortayne to deye be fore they 

be maryid then I wyll my sune have ther parte or partes that shalbe 

departyd to paye his dettes as ys a bove wretyn 

Also I wyll that and yf y l myne executors Cannot Recayve & 

recover All suche dettes as ther ys owyng unto me a shall appere 

upon the baksyde of thys my testamente & last wyll then I wyll 

that all such geuyftys & legaces & bebuestes that I have gevyn 

And be quethyd unto my Chyldryns chyldryn stand voyde & of 

none offecte anny thyng a bove wretyn to y e countrary natt w'stand-


yng Yet nat w'standyng yf yt be so y l myne executors can Recayve 

or Recover so myche of my dettes as my geyftes & legasys before 

wretyn doth cume to my husbondes geyftes & legasys performyd 

then I wyll y l 

y l 

every won of my dowghters Chyldryn have ther gyftes 

I have gevyn them accordyngly as yt ys a bove wretyn And the 

over plusse y' shall Remayne in myne executors handes or in y e 

handes of y e executors or assigners of them shall Remayne to 

tomas marven my sune towardes y e paymente of hys dettes 

Allso I wyll y' and yf yt shall fortayne y 4 tomas marven my god- 

son my suns sun to deye w l owght essew of hys body laffully be- 

gotton then I wyll y' my howse & gardyn w' all and synguler the 

apportynances Remayne unto y e nexte sune y' my sune tomas shall 

have of hys body laffully begotton And he to have the sayde howse 

& gardyn w l 

all and synguler thaportynancys to hym and to y e ayer 

malle of hys body laffully begotton and he to geve unto hys suster 

anne Marven xx ]i when y e howse shall cume in to hys handes 

And yf yt shall fortayne y 1 

tomas marven my sune to deye w* 

owght anny ayer malle of hys body laffully begotton And then 

Anne marven my suns Dowghter to be a lyve Then I wyll ye sayd 

Howse & gardyn w* all & synguler thaportynances to be sowlde by 

myne executors or the executors and assyners of them for as myche 

mony as he or they maye or can Resonably gett for yt And forty 

pownd of the sayde to geve unto the forsayd mony to geve [sic] 

unto the fore namyd anne marven my suns Dowghter And the 

Reste of y e a bove sayde mony y' shall Remayne of y e sayde 

Howse to be equally devydyd a monge my chyldryn y* then shall 

be a lyve 

All the Rest of my movabull goodes not gevyn nor bequethyd I 

do geve them unto my chyldryn to be devydyd equally a mong 

them by y e dyscressyon of myne executors 

Allso I wyll y* myne executors shall take a suer & suffycente 

bond of tomas marven my sune for ye suer Kepyng and saffe gard 

of all suche gyftes and bequestes as I have gevyn & bequethyd


unto hys chyldryn And for the mayntenance and sewer kepyng of 

the howse and howsys in good & suffycente Repracyons And yf 

y e sayde tomas my sune doth Refusse to put yn a good & suffy- 

cente bond then I wyll myne executors or the executors and assyn- 

ers of them do take the sayde howsse & gardyn in to ther handes 

and to kepe y e sayd howse & gardyn w l thaportynancys in ther 

custodys tyll suche tyme chylde or chyldryn shall come to ther age 

to Recayve yt accordyng as yt ys a bove wretyn But yet nat w l 

standyng I wyll y* tomas marven my sune shall take & Recayve all 

the profettes as Rente & Renttes ther of dew from tyme to tyme 

for terme of hys naturall lyffe Allways the Repracyons ther of to 

be de ductyd & a lowyd 

Also I do geve unto John Lame of trymle in y e counte of suffok 

yeman to y e intente that he take upon hym the execusyon of thys 

my presente testamente x\s. 

Allso I do geve unto John Barker of bylston in the counte of 

suffoke Clother to the intente y l 

he shall take upon hym the exe- 

cusyon of thys my presente testamente xlx. 

And [of] thys my presente testamente and laste wyll I make and 

ordayne myne executors the forsayd John Lame of trymle & John 

Barker of bylston 

In wytnes where of to thys presente testamente contaynyng ther 

yn my last wyll I have sette my seale & hand tokyn the daye & 

yere above wretyn In y e presenttes of Robard beelle Tomas Paynter 

and Willm Paynter ye wryghter here of 

by me Robart beele 

Thomas Payter 

Proved 30 December 1558 

Here after shall appere all suche dettes as ys owyng unto me the 

w* in namyd anne marven wedow At thys presente daye of the


makyng of thys my presente testamente & last wyll as here after 

folowythe 

Item fyrst tomas Coper of ypswych berebruer . 

Item nycolas panton stayner dwellyng in ypswych 

Item Henry Rownketyll of ypswych maryner . 

Item frauncys broke of thys towne of Harwych 

Item Rychard Daye butcher 

Item Peter Leger meser 

Item John Seman 

Itm Willm Roger 

Itm John Hews wyffe of thorpe 

Roger Haukyn frauncys broke & tomas grene can wytnes y e dett 

Item a man dwellyng in my sune Caustons farme whome my sune 

doth knowe 

Item my Dowghter causton 

x\s. 

xxs. 

xvis. 

xb/s. 

. XXXVJJ'. 

xlvji. viijrf. 

xxs. 

xxvjs. viijt/. 

xb. 

xx-?. 

iijfi. 

Itm tomas bendyche sumetyme dwellyng in Hadle .... xli. 

Item Panton my tenante doth how unto me xxvijj. where I have a 

gaige the wyche ys fyfe shettes iij pewter platters ij pewter dychys 

and a pewter dyche w f corners fyfe sawssers a pewter bason & a 

latton Chaffer all whiche stuffe ys natt worthe my mony where 

fore and yf he do bryng unto myne executors xxs. then I do for 

geve hym the Reste And then he to have hys pleg a gene . . xx.r. 

Item the wedow blowe of Colnes sumtyme ye wyffe of Jheffery 

tayler 

Item Kyng the bocher of shortle 

Item tomas Rycheman of Ramse 

*»• 

xvs. 

xlvjs. viijrf. 

Item Roger Haukyn my sune in lawe x\)li. 

The total amount of the above debts is £$0 12s. 

Thomas Paynter witnessed Anne's Will and that of her 

husband. William, who was the " wryghter " of Anne's, 

may have been attached to the Church at Harwich or Dover- 

court, but I do not find his name in Newcourt's Repertorium. 

In most cases at that period Wills were written by clerics, 

and there being no standard of orthography, the spelling is 

often grotesque ; but we have carefully followed it in all

Rcinold and Matthew Marvin 65 

cases. Among the debtors, Peter Leger is called " meser," 

? messor, a provincial word for a "lord's bailiff." Thomas 

Cooper, the "berebruerof ypswych," is very likely the one 

of that name mentioned above.* The " Town Marche " was, 

I presume, the esplanade on the southern border, long a 

favorite promenade. The " selond beme " (? scale and beam) 

and "wayghts" in the "shope," given to her son, show that 

he probably succeeded to his father's business. 

11 Robert 3 {John 2 Robert 1 

), was born in 1489 or earlier, 

probably at Great Belstead, another name for Washbrook 

according to a local history, or a part of that Parish, f 

fourteenth century Washbrook had two Churches ; 

In the 

one was in 

a hamlet called Felchurch, which with Hamer Hall in that 

vicinity, belonged to the Dartford Priory, and was near 

Sproughton ; 

as Robert's father was a tenant by copy-hold of 

the Prioress (see his Will, p. 36 supra), his land must have 

been in that hamlet. Some ruins of the old Church re- 

mained in the middle of the last century, but when it fell is 

not known, and its name and that of the locality seem to have 

been forgotten. This neighborhood, however, is thought to 

be that once called Great Belstead ; the date of its ab- 

sorption I have been unable to find. The other Church, as 

previously stated, is dedicated to St. Mary ; the living, united 

* See No. 20, pp. 40, 41. The Rev. C. H. Evelyn White, in his "Old Inns and 

Taverns in Ipswich," has much curious information on the peculiar customs of the 

brewers there, and the local laws regulating the business in the fifteenth and sixteenth 

centuries. Bylston (p. 56) where Anne's daughter Barker lived, is now called Bildcs- 

ton; it is eleven miles north-west of Ipswich. 

t Kirby, " Suffolk Traveller," p. 69, edition of 1764.


with St. Peter's, Copdock, about 1750, is ^400 and a parson- 

age. The population of the two Parishes is 650. The Rev. 

John H. Hocking, M. A., was Rector in 1897. 

St. Mary's stands in a secluded part of the valley of the 

rivulet 'Wash,' from which the Parish derived its name, 

and has a nave, chancel and tower, restored and beautified 

in 1864 by the lord of the manor, at a cost of about $6,000. 

The font was then removed to the north porch, which was 

converted into a baptistery. In 1553 there were three bells 

in the tower ; the -largest of these, forty inches in diameter,* 

still remains, and has upon it a small shield charged with a 

bend, a cross in sinister chief and an annulet in dexter base, 

followed by the hexameter 

88 31n Iteirtttf Xntii? S*e£onet Campana 3Io&anni». 

St. Peter's has a nave, chancel, north transept, south porch, 

and a lofty square tower ; it contains a curiously sculptured 

font, a piscina, and holy-water stoup, which date from an 

early period : a fine reredos and several memorial windows 

with other improvements made in the last half century, have 

greatly beautified it. There are now six bells in the tower ; 

three of them dating from the early part of the seventeenth 

century were cast by Miles Graye the elder, of Colchester ; 

* See Raven, " Church Bells of Suffolk," p. 248. He tells us that Richard Hille cast 

these bells; he died in 1440, and his "relict Joan" continued the business, but Raven 

thinks she did not make Suffolk bells. As it was customary for founders to put their 

names upon their work, it is difficult to see why this rhyme (May the bell of John 

[? Johan] ring for many years) was placed on St. Mary's bell, if it does not allude to 

Joan. It occurs on several others, seemingly with equal incongruity.

Reinold and Matthew Marvin. 67 

another, hung in 1677, was cast by John Darbie, probably 

a son-in-law of Graye.* The last was added about 1880. 

Robert was living when his brother died in 1535, but I 

have found nothing to show the names of his children. 

There was a Thomas Marvin " of Cobdocke," whose Will 

of 1597 I have, and who may have been his son, but more 

probably was his grandson. An account of this family, with 

a few notes from the Washbrook Register, will be found on 

a subsequent page, at the close of the Fifth Generation 

(see No. 62). 

12 John 8 (John, 2 Robert 1 

), of Chattisham, Suffolk, "hus- 

bandman," the son of John and Elizabeth Marvin, of Washbrook, 

the adjoining Parish, was born as early as 1491. He 

married Rose, whose maiden name must have been Smythe, 

as she appoints her "brother, John Smythe," supervisor of 

her Will ; 

this is dated 25 April, 1557; she long survived her 

husband, whose Will of 27 March, 1535, was proved 10 May, 

1536. That her home, if not her birthplace, was in Great 

Belstead, is suggested by the fact that "Smythys" (Smythe's) 

purchased by her father-in-law not long before his death, was 

located there. Rose probably died in Little Belstead, as she 

asks to be buried in that Church-yard. This is a small Parish 

three miles south-west of Ipswich, and a few miles east of 

Great Belstead, now Washbrook. Its population is about 

250 ; the living is ,£250 and a parsonage ; the Church is dedi- 

cated to St. Mary. The Rev. Fred'k R. Gorton, M. A., was the 

* Ibid., pp. 124-5, anc* I7^'


Rector in 1897. 

Here before the Reformation, were "seven 

superstitious pictures, the Apostles and two others," says 

Dowsing, " which we brake down, and took up four inscrip- 

tions in brass, ' Ora pro nobis,' etc."* 

Chattisham is another small Parish, now having about 200 

people, with a living of ;£i20 and a parsonage. Its Church, 

which is dedicated to All Saints and St. Margaret, is very 

old ; it is a plain building with a square tower, in which three 

bells were hanging in 1553 

1824 ; 

; this was the number as late as 

there is now but one,f which has the inscription, 

onixes GFjpye fflpDe me 1621 

Here Dowsing found nothing to do (the patron having re- 

moved the threatened decorations, and hid them safely before 

his arrival), though at Washbrook he "broke down twenty- 

six superstitious pictures, and gave order to take down a 

stoneing cross, and the chancel to be levelled." His notes 

give us a glimpse of the interiors of these old Churches in 

the earlier days when our forefathers knew them. Chattis- 

ham is in the Diocese of Norwich, Deanery of Samford, and 

the Rev. Henry A. Walker, M. A., was the Vicar in 1897. 

* " Journal of William Dowsing, edited by the Rev. C. H. Evelyn White, Ipswich, 

1885," pp. 18, 42. These pictures, says Mr. White, in his notes, " were probably in 

glass ; some small portions still remain, including the head, apparently of an Apostle, 

which is almost entire. His ' etc' may include damage to the rood-screen, the portion 

now remaining having the faces and figures mutilated." 

The note on the repairs of St. Mary's (p. 32), applies to this Church and not that 

in Great Belstead ; the assignment given is an error, discovered since that was printed 

and due to the similarity of names. Little Belstead is now usually called Belstead. 

f Raven, p. 175, as cited. This same declaration with different dates appears on 

hree of the Copdock bells.


John is called " of Chattisham " in his Will and in that of 

his widow ; what property he held there, does not appear. 

He owned a 'tenement with lands, both free and copy,' in 

Washbrook ; his father had left the sons an equal share in 

his lands : these cannot now be identified, but in the final 

settlement Robert 3 seems to have obtained the property in 

that part of the Parish called Great Belstead, while John 

acquired land in the other part, or Washbrook, by inherit- 

ance or purchase ; of this estate he gave a half to his brother, 

conditionally, and the other half with the tenement he left 

to his widow ; after her death, if his daughters died without 

issue, it was to "remayne accordyng to my ffather's Will," 

which provided (p. 36 supra), that if his [i. e. John 2 

] 

children 

died without issue, it should be sold and the proceeds applied 

for the benefit of his " sowle and all Crysten sowles." This 

direction, with the disposition John 3 made of this property, 

may indicate that the Washbrook homestead had come to 

him after his father's death ; 

it, as the Will of Robert 1 

and that the latter had purchased 

(see p. 26), had ordered its sale. 

John also owned another estate in the same Parish, called 

" Wallys," which he gave to his widow in life-tenure, and 

then to his daughters successively, in case the holder died 

without issue. It was to be disposed of at the widow's dis- 

cretion, if her daughters died before her without leaving 

issue, or by her last surviving daughter, under similar con- 

ditions. These daughters must have been quite young when 

their father died. The names of the husbands of two are 

learned from the Will of their mother.

jo The English Ancestry of 

The children of John and Rose were : 

— 

32 i. Maryon, 4 b. ? about 1525 ; she is named first in her father's 

2,2, 

Will, and given half of his " free goods " when twenty-one, 

while her sisters are given specific amounts (^"3, 6s., &d.) 

as marriage portions ; she is also to inherit " Wallys " in 

case she survives her sisters. This may indicate that she 

was the eldest. I judge she was the daughter who married 

Thomas Glamfelde, of Hintlesham, Suffolk.* 

ii. Agnes, b. ? about 1527 ; I think she was the daughter 

who mar. Christopher Alderman, by whom she had issue. 

34 iii. Johan, b. ; unmarried in 1557 when her mother d., 

as Rose directs her " son-in-law Thos. Glamfelde," to pay 

Johan "at her marriage" £6, 13s., \d., — just double the 

amount of her original legacy. 

WILL OF JOHN MARVIN, JR., OF SHATYSHAM.f (sic.) 

3Tn Het nomine &men The yere of our lord 1 god M ccccc xxxv*' 

The xxvij daye of Marche I John Marvyn off Chattysham in the 

Countie of Suff husbandman beyng hoole & perfyght of mynd & 

rememberaunce do ordeyne & make my last will & testament on 

thys maner folowyng ffirst I bequeth my soule to allmyghtie god 

our blyssyd Ladye & to all the hoolye companie of Hevyn & my 

bodye to be buryed in the Cherch yard of Shattysham aforsaid 

Also I bequeth to Rose my wyff my tenement in Waschbrooke w' 

the londes longyng thereto both ffree & Copye not wl stondyng 

yf my brother wyll pay unto Rose my wyff xij 11 then he to enter 

the oon halff ffree & Copye Moreovyr yf he be not able to paye 

the foresaid xij 11 att oon payment then he to paye xl s a yere unto 

the tyme that the said summ of xij 11 be payed Also I will that yf 

* Some notes on the elder daughters received too late to be inserted in regular 

order, will be found on a subsequent page. 

f Calendar of Suffolk Wills at Ipswich, Book XII (1534-38), fo. 122.

Reinold and Matthew Marvin J\ 

it shall happen that my brother be not abyll to paye thys before 

Rehersyd w l hys owyn propyr gooddys then he to have vj s viij d by 

yere out of the Copye during the term of his lyff 

Also I will that Maryon myn doughter shall haue hauff the free 

good what tyme that she comyth to the age of xxj & yf yt shall 

fortune the said Maryon to departe by fore the said age Then I will 

that yt shall remayne unto Agnes my doughter & yf yt shall for- 

tune the forsaid Agnes to departe Then I will yt shall remayne to 

Johan my doughter And yf the forsaid Maryon happyn to have 

ony yssue of hyr bodye laufullye begotton Then I will that yt shall 

remayn to the same & so lyke wysse of the other & yf itt shall for- 

tune the forsaid Agnes & Johan to departe w l out yssue of ther 

bodyes laufullye begotten Then I wyll that ytt shall remayne to 

Rose my wyff & after the decease of Rose my wyff I will y l 

shall remayne accordyng to my ffathers wyll 

Also I will & bequeth to Rose my wyff my tenement in Wasch- 

brook callyd Wallys for the terme of hyr lyff And after the decease 

of Rose my wyff I will yt shall remayne to Agnes my doughter & 

to the yssue of hyr body laufullye begotten & yf the forsaid Agnes 

happen for to departe w 4 out yssue of hyr bodye laufullye begotten 

Then I will yt shall remayne to Johan my doughter And to the 

Issue of hyr bodye laufully begotten And [yf] yt shall happen the 

forsaid Johan to departe w l out yssue Than I will yt shall remayne 

to Maryon my doughter & to the yssue of hyr bodye laufullye 

begotten And yff yt shall fortune my forsayd chyldren to departe 

w* out issue by fore Rose my wyff & she to dyspose ytt as she shall 

thynke best And yf my wyff departe by fore them Then the last 

chyld to dyspose yt as itt shall please them 

Also I bequeth to Agnes my doughter iij 1 ' vj s 

viij d & to Johan 

my doughter iij 1 ' vj s viij d & that to be payed by Rose my wyff or hyr 

assigneys at the daye of thyre maryage And yf yt shall fortune 

the oone to departe by fore the othe Then the oon to Enheryte the 

others parte And yf yt shall fortune the said Agnes & Johan to 

it

72 


departe w* in the forsaid age Then I will yt shalbe att the dys- 

posycon of Rose my wyff 

Also I bequeth to Elyzabeth Snape my Syster xiij s 

iiij d & that 

to be payed in iiij yerys Also I geve to the same Elyzabeth 

a Combe of Make & that to be payed also in iiij yerys & oon 

bz of whete & thys to be delyvered by Rose my wyff and hyr 

assigneys 

The Residue of my goodes moveabylles & unmoveabylles I putto 

the dyscrecon of Rose my wyff whom I do ordeyn & make myn 

executrix 

Wyttenes here of Robert Belcham & Rychard Pulford 

Proved at Ipswich 10 May 1536 

A "combe" was half a "seme," or four bushels. 

ABSTRACT OF THE WILL OF ROSE MARVYN.* 

25 April, 1557. Rose Marvyn, widow, of Little Belstead, Suffolk, 

late wife of John Marvyn (Jr.), of Chattisham, deceased. 

To be buried in the Church-yard of Little Belstead. 

Thomas Glamfelde, her "son-in-law," to pay to her daughter 

Joan £6, 13s., 4^.. at her marriage. 

Children of Christopher Alderman, " my son," whom " I make 

executor," mentioned but not named. 

Children of John Alderman, not named. [I suppose that he was 

the John of Belstead (where Rose died), who had a son Christopher, 

of Bentley, Suffolk, and that he was the brother John named 

in the Will of Christopher, as John, the son of the latter, was then 

only a boy.f] 

" John Smythe, my brother," is appointed supervisor. 

* Calendar of Suffolk Wills at Ipswich, Book XVIII (1557-59). fo - 58 5t 

Some reasons for this conclusion will be found on a subsequent page, under 

Agnes (33).

Reinold and Matthetv Marvin 73 

FOURTH GENERATION. 

15 John 4 (?John, z John, 2 Roger 1 

), born about 1510. His 

father's name is not known, but the reasons for the line of 

descent proposed will be found on page 30, and need not be 

repeated here. As all the knowledge we have of him is 

derived from the Wills of his two brothers, Reinold and 

Thomas, there is nothing to show when he died, except that 

he certainly survived Reinold, and apparently was living in 

October, 1561, when Thomas made his Will. He was evi- 

dently older than Thomas, but may have been younger than 

Reinold. I have no doubt that he was the John of Ramsey, 

taxed there in 1540, "on his movables 12s., 6d." That he 

married (? Margaret ) and had issue is evident from the 

Wills of his brothers, but these do not give us their names. 

These are obtained from the Will of John (36), the first son 

assigned him below. In that Will the maker speaks of his 

"cousin Barbara:" Reinold, the brother of John (15), had 

a daughter Barbara Marvin, who of course would have been 

own cousin to the children of her father's brothers ; it is 

clear from the Will of Thomas (17), one of these brothers, 

that he had but one son, Matthew, and as the only other 

brother of Reinold was John, so far as known, the conjec- 

tural assignment seems justified. We therefore conclude 

that the "cousin" of "Barbara" and the brpther and sister 

named in John's (36) Will were the children of John (15), and 

these we assign him. The order of birth is unknown ; if

74 


we are correct in believing Elizabeth to be a daughter, which 

seems to be implied in the Will cited, she was very likely 

the eldest child, and not improbably there were other chil- 

dren, whose names have not been found. 

35 i. Elizabeth, 5 b. about 1532 ; mar. John Hayle of Ramsey, 

and had (1) John, 6 called " the younger" in his uncle's Will; 

(2) Wealthe ; and possibly (3) William named in the same 

Will. Elizabeth is not called his sister by John, although 

she is first named in his Will and given a larger legacy than 

Margaret, who is so styled ; her husband also receives a 

legacy of £10, is made executor with John Wade who mar- 

ried the testator's " cousin Barbara," and finally is appointed 

guardian of his children. These various facts lead to the 

conclusion that Elizabeth was a sister, and the eldest child 

of the family. The date of her death does not appear, but 

she was evidently living in 1571. 

36 ii. John, b. about 1534; mar. , who, as not mentioned 

in her husband's Will, probably died before him. He re- 

sided in Ramsey, and died in 1571, leaving issue. 

37 iii. Roger, b. about 1537 (?) ; mar. , and had issue. If 

any inference is to be drawn from the name of this son, it 

would confirm, quoad hoc, the theory of the line of descent 

of his father as suggested above ; it is not impossible that 

Roger was the eldest son, that position having been as- 

signed to John only because of his bearing his father's 

name. 

38 iv. Margaret, b. ; mar. Clarcke, of " Holbrecke,"* 

and had John* who received a contingent bequest in his 

uncle's Will. She was living in 157 1, but nothing further 

has been found. 

* Probably for Holbrook, a Parish in Suffolk, six miles from Ipswich,

16 Reinold 4 


(? John* John, 2 Roger 1 

), or as he signs his 

name to his Will, " Rynalde Mervyn," calls himself of " Ram- 

sey, yeoman." He was born about 15 14, but whether in this 

Parish cannot be shown, as its Registers do not extend so 

far back ; but he and his sister Christian, and one at least 

of his brothers, are known to have resided there, and he was 

taxed there in 1540 on his movables twenty shillings. He 

owned various houses and lands in Ramsey, which he names 

in his Will: — a "tenement called Benettes ; 

" another, 

called " Genettes," which he bought of John Dave ; on the 

peninsula in the northern part of the Parish* he owned the 

"farme of East Haull (Hall), and the Ray," which are shown 

on Morant's Map of Tendring Hundred ; he was also the 

owner of another estate in Ramsey called " Barwycke," 

which, as named in the same clause as the property on the 

Ray, was perhaps in that vicinity ; in the adjoining Parish 

of Wrabness he had "a tenement with lands adjoining, both 

free and copy-hold," which he gave to his son Edward, 5 who 

in turn bequeathed it to his son Edward, 6 who left it to his 

children. 

Wrabness lies north of the Oakleys and north-west or 

nearly west of Ramsey, with the river Stour on its northern 

boundary, the estuary of which it overlooks. At the pres- 

ent time the Harwich & Manningtree Branch of the Great 

Eastern Railway has a station there. In the days when our 

ancestors held property in this little Parish, there were two 

* See page 9, supra. In 1557 East Hall Manor belonged to Sir Thomas White.

y6 


Manors,— Wrabness Hall, which belonged to the Ayloffes, 

1517-1612, and Denball's, which in 1544 was the property 

of Christopher Roydon,* and later of William Ayloffe, who 

sold or leased it to John Lucas, f The Parish Church, ded- 

icated to All Saints, is a very small, plain and ancient build- 

ing of rubble ; the tower became ruinous long since, and a 

low, square, wooden turret, containing a single bell, was 

built in the south-west corner of the Church-yard : the 

Church is now ivy-covered, and very picturesque, showing 

some traces of Norman work : 

it contains a quaint old octag- 

nal font of unknown age, but evidently of great antiquity. 

Unfortunately for our researches, the Parish Register does 

not begin until 1650, so that we have not been able to ascer- 

tain whether Edward 5 resided there before he went to Great 

Bentley. In 1897 the population was given as 264 ; the Rev. 

Anthony C. Fenn, B. A., was then in charge, with a living 

of ^203 and a parsonage. 

Reinold married Johan , who survived him and was 

made sole executrix of his Will ; this is dated 22 December, 

1554, but the date of probate does not appear. If he was 

the "godson" named in the Will of Robert, he must have 

been living in 1557. He directs that his interment shall be 

in the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, in Ramsey. 

The children of Reinold and Johan I arrange in the order 

named in his Will ; none of them were of age when their 

father made it ; 

possibly John, who was apparently a young 

* See page 12, supra. f See page n, supra.

Reinold and Matthetv Marvin TJ 

man not much if at all over thirty when he died, may have 

been the eldest son, and I judge that one or more of the 

daughters must have been older than he. 

59 i. Richard, 5 b. ; his father left him " Benettes " in 

Ramsey.* We know nothing more of him unless (which is 

hardly probable) he was the father of Richard Marvin, of 

Hull, Yorkshire, who was a shipwright, and mar. " Ells 

(? Alice) and had a son Robert, bap. at St. Nicholas' 

Church, Harwich, 24 October, 1633 (Parish Register), which 

is all that has been found of that family. 

/-40 ii. Edward, b. about 1552. The Wrabness property was 

bequeathed to him by his father ; this enables us to identify 

him with the Edward who mar. Margaret , as appears 

from the records of the baptisms of their children at Great 

Bentley, in which Parish he died between 13 November, 

1615, and 17 January following ; his wife survived him. 

41 hi. John, b. ; I believe him to be the John who mar. 

Margaret (? Gillyat), and d. in Little Oakley ; his Will is 

dated 5 March, 1584/5 ; he had issue, placed by his Will 

under guardianship of John Wade, who, as shown above, 

must have been his brother-in-law, and married his sister 

Barbara. 

42 iv. Audre, b. ; she is given £10, and the same amount 

43 

is left to each of her sisters, to be paid them when they 

reached the age of twenty. 

v. Margere, b. . 

44 iv. Barbara, b. ; I take her to be the "cousin Barbara" 

named in the Will of John Marvin, of Ramsey (36), who 

* These places were often known by their previous owners' names, and sometimes 

by those of the tenants. John (5) had a tenant " Benet," but his place was in Washbrook, 

while this was in Ramsey. 

"

78 


mar. John Wade (then of Ramsey but called of Little Oakley 

in her brother's Will), by whom she had issue, among 

ihem John* since her husband is called "John the elder." 

WILL OF RAYNOLD MARVEN.* 

3Tn tfje name of ptl &men in the xxij Day of December in the 

yere of our Lorde God 1554 I Raynold Marven of Ramsey in the 

countey of essex yeman of hole mynde & good Remembranc do 

make and ordayne thys my last wyll & testament after thys forme 

folowyng fyrst I bequeth my Soule to Almyghtye god my maker 

& my body to be buryed in the churche of Saynt Myghell the Arcangell 

of Ramsey 

Item I gyve unto Johan my wyfe all my howses & landes for 

terme of her lyfe to kepe my chyldren & hyrs withall tell they be 

abell to helpe themselfs & to kepe the howses in reperasyon & ye 

landes inffensyng & she to make no stryppe no wast of tymber & 

woodes 

Item I gyve to ye brydge of Ramsey xxvj s viij d to be payd when 

yt ys a makyng or a mending 

Item I gyve to Rycharde my Sonne a tenement called Benettes 

lying in Ramsey & all the landes therto be longgyng after the de- 

cesse of hys mother to hym & to hys aeyres 

Item I gyve to Edwarde my Sonne a tenament lying in Wrabnes 

with ye landes therto be longyng bothe free and copye after the 

decesse of hys mother to hym & to hys ayeres 

Item I gyve to John my Son a tenament lying in Ramsey the 

wyche I bought of John Dave called Genettes & the landys therto 

belongyng after ye decesse of hys mother to hym & to hys aeyres & 

also I gyve to the sayd John x 11 of money to be payd hym at xxj 

yeres of Age 


December, 1554.


Item I wyll yff any of my iij Sonnes do dey or they come to the 

Age of xxj yeres that then the lande & mony of thyre parte so being 

dew to be devydyd in equall partes betwyn them y l Remayn alyve 

Item I gyv to my iij Doughters y l 

ys Audre Margere & Barbara 

x lj apece to be payd unto them at the age of xx yeres & yf any of 

them do dey beffor they come to ye age of xx yeres then I wyll yt 

her parte be equaly devyd to ye lyving of the sayd doughters 

Item I gyve to Thomas Churchman vj s viij d Item I gyve to the 

wedowe Kyng vj s viijd Item to Loye purcas iij s iiij d Item to John 

Johnsonne iiij s iiij d Item to Bese wyxe wedowe iij s iiij d Item to 

Als Betryche iij s iiij d Item I gyve to Mare Wales x s & thys money 

to be payd wyth in xiiij dayes after my buryall Item I gyve to 

John How the elder xx s Item I gyve to John Howe the yongher 

xx s Item I gyve to Stephyn How xx s these legacys to be payd 

within viij wekes after my buryall 

Item I gyve to crystyan my mayd an ewe Item to Johan my 

mayd an ewe Item to Marget my mayd an ewe 

Item I gyve to Johan my wyve all my yewes that I have in my 

ferme of east Haull & the Ray & Barwycke Item I wyll that yff my 

wyfe chanche for to marye agayn then I wyll she shall be bounde 

before that she do marye to my brother John Mervyn & to my 

Brother thomas Mervyn for my chyldrene stockes & legacys with 

ij suffycyent Suertes in dobull the valew ffor the performanc off yt 

accordyng to my wyll or ells to delyver the sayd stockes before 

that she do marye into the handes of the sayd John Merven & 

Thomas merven 

Item I gyve to Johan my wyfe all the Rest of my goodys unbe- 

queathed both movable & unmovables howm I do make my Sole 

executrix & she to pay my dettes & my legacys & to see my wyll 

fullfyllyd These being wyttnes Wyllyam Vaughan Robert Blosse 

Thomas Hedge with other more 

By me Rynalde 

mervyn


This Will has an autograph signature ; much to my disap- 

pointment an application for permission to trace it for re- 

production here was refused, under the rules of Somerset 

House. Of the witnesses, William Vaughan was then the 

Parish Priest of St. Michael's ; Robert Blosse has the name 

of one of the sons of Sissely (24), but that Robert could 

hardly been of age when this Will was executed. Thomas 

Churchman received a legacy of the same amount from 

Robert (8), and his wife was remembered by Isabell, Robert's 

widow, but there is nothing to show any relationship be- 

tween the families. Whether the John Johnsonne mentioned 

by Reinold bore any relation to the Katherine named by 

Robert, or whether Alice Beteryche was the mother or a 

sister of the Matthew and John named in Robert's Will, we 

can only conjecture ; but the recurrence in the three Wills 

of so many names of persons more or less closely connected 

seems worthy of notice in passing, and taken with the 

other facts which have been cited, shows that there is reason- 

able ground for the belief that Reinold was the nephew of 

Robert (8). 

As the legacies to the Howes are so much larger than the 

others and are apparently given to a father and his sons, 

they attract our notice ; but nothing has been found to in- 

dicate any relationship, or to suggest a reason for the gift. 

The " Bridge," for the repair of which legacies were often 

left in the Wills herein cited, is shown on the map. In 

Morant's time this was a long structure of timber "in the 

great road to Harwich, and was kept up at the charge of


the County." It crossed a tidal creek south of the "Ray," 

and united Ramsey, on the east side, with "Ramsey Street," 

on the west. It is evident from a Will to be cited later, 

that one branch of the family lived very near it, and from 

various allusions it would appear that there were other Mar- 

vin homes between this bridge and Dovercourt, which even 

at this distance of time could be located without great diffi- 

culty. 

17 Thomas 4 ( ?John? John? Roger 1 

), of Ramsey, b. ? 15 18 ; 

he must have been younger than either John or Reinold, as 

he left but one child, while Reinold, who died earlier,* had 

six, and John four if not five. Though of Ramsey when 

he died, his name is not found among those taxed in the 

"Exchequer Lay Subsidy" in 1540, so that if living there 

at that time, as his brothers were, he was then probably 

under age. He married Mrs. Barbara Brett, who had had 

three children, Joan, Margaret, and Mary, by a previous 

husband, and these receive legacies from their step-father. 

Thomas owned houses and lands, both free and copy-hold, 

in Ramsey ; estates in Little Oakley called " Brandon " and 

" Clay pittes," and he also had property in Suffolk County, 

which is not named, but the fact may have some bearing on 

the Ipswich relationship of the Ramsey Marvins, suggested 

on a previous page. He, like his brothers, was evidently 

* Thomas, in his Will (1561), speaks of him as " lat of Ramsey, deceased." Rei- 

nold's Will, as we have seen, was dated December, ; 1554 as the date of probate is 

not given we have been unable to fix the year of his death more nearly. Very likely 

Thomas was younger than Christian also, the date of birth given being conjectural, as 

stated.


engaged in farming and sheep-raising ; 

and from a very early 

period the County of Essex was noted for its wool and 

woollen manufactures. 

Little Oakley is a seaboard Parish, south of Ramsey ; I 

find only one Manor mentioned there, " Little Oakley Hall," 

which belonged to the Darcys in the time of Edward VI, 

and later. It stands not far from the eastern end of the 

the Parish Church, which is dedicated to St. Mary. This 

was under the care of the Rev. Solomon W. S. Allen, Rec- 

tor, in 1895 ; the living is given in the Clergy List for that 

year as ^400 and a parsonage, and the population about 

300. The building is quite old, the nave " of one pace with 

the chancel," and all tiled ; in Morant's time there were four 

bells in the tower ; it is built of stone. Wrabness station is 

less than three miles away. 

His Will is dated 14 October, 1561, but the date of pro- 

bate does not appear. His widow was to have a life-interest 

in the entire estate unless she should marry again, in which 

case half the estate is to go at once to his son (who ulti- 

mately is to have all the lands), while she is to take the 

profits of the remainder during her life. She is made ex- 

ecutrix, with her brother-in-law, Thomas Herde (husband of 

Christian Marvin), as co-executor. Thomas and Barbara had 

only one child, so far as known, who, as his father provides 

that he shall be sent " continually to scoole and learnynge 

by all the space of x yeares," was evidently a boy of tender 

age when his father died. This was 

45 i. Matthew, 6 b. ? about 1555.


The Will provides that in case of the death of this son 

(Matthew) "without heyres of his body lawfully begotten," 

the property is to be equally divided between the children 

of John and Reinold and their sister Christian Herde;* if 

the John Marvin of Little Oakley (41), be the son of Reinold, 

as is inferred from his Will, it may be that Matthew died 

s. p., and Reinold's son took that portion of his uncle's 

estate. 

WILL OF THOMAS MERVYN.f 

2Tn tljc name of pi amen the xiiij day of October A° 1561 I 

Thomas mervyn of Ramsey &c [sic] do make & ordeyne my testament 

& last wyll &c 

fTyrst I bequeth my soul to almyghty god &c 

Item I give to Mathev my sonn xl £iot Currant money of england 

to be delivered vnto hym at his age of xxj yeares 

Item I giv to Jone brett v £i oi Currant money of england Item 

I giv to Margaret brett v £i of currant money of england Item I 

giv to mary brett v £i of currant money of england 

Item I give to Richard my servant a shep & a lamb Item I 

giv to Thomas Cheslow my servant a shep & a lamb Item I giv 

to thomas smyth my servant a shep & a lamb to be delivered to 

every of them at the Nyxt Clyppynge tyme after my decease Item 

I giv to everye of my godchyldren beinge now alyv x\)d a pece 

* The " Aunts " referred to by John (36), who it was suggested page 40 supra might 

be sisters of Thomas, are not mentioned in this Will, but neither is Christian, undoubt- 

edly his sister, mentioned by Reinold. While the relationship of Maryon, etc., has not 

been established, as previously stated, the omission of their names does not disprove 

it, and the provision for Christian's children by Thomas may be due to her recent 

death, or to the fact that her husband is appointed executor. 

f Archdeaconry of Colchester, Registered Wills (Somerset House), Roberts, fo. 177. 

The copyist evidently omitted some words or phrases of the introductory olauses, in 

putting the original upon the Register.

84 


Item I wyll & giv to Barbara my wyfe all those my houses & 

landes bothe free & Coppy aswell that I hav in essex as also In 

Suffolke duringe the natural lyfe of the sayd Barbara my wyfe & 

After her deceas I wyll all ye sayd houses shall remayne to my 

sonn Mathewe & to the heyres of his body lawfully begotten & yf 

it fortune my sonn Mathev to dye without heyres of his body law- 

fully begotten then I wyll my sayd houses & landes shalbe sold by 

the discretione of myne executors or of their executors or admin- 

istrators to ye most adwantage & the money thereof commynge to 

be equalye parted betwen & amonge the Chyldren aswell of my 

brother John Merven & of Raynold Marveyn lat of Ramsey de- 

ceased and also Amonge the Chyldren of thomas Herd my brother 

ye whiche he latly had by his lat wyf Christian Marven to be 

equaly parted Amonge them then livinge 

Item also I wyll & giv to my wyfes Daughters y* is to say to 

Jon Margaret & Marye brett out of the sayd houses & landes so 

beinge sold x Lib of lawfull money of england to be equaly parted 

between them 

Item I wyll y' the sayd barbara my wyfe shall hav aswell the 

governans and bringinge up of my sonn Mathew As also the order- 

inge & the disposinge of his sayd legacyes to his Most Advantage 

untill y e sayd mathev com to the age of xxj yeares Condicionally 

yf she my sayd wyfe wyll fynd my sayd sonn mathew continually 

to scoole & learnynge by all the space of x yeares But & yf the 

sayd Barbara my wyfe shall refus or neglect so to do then I wyll 

y l Thomas herd my brother shall hav aswell y e orderinge & bringinge 

up of ye sayd mathew as also of the disposinge ye sayd his 

legacyes to the sayd Mathew my sonns most profyt fyndinge hym 

to schoole by all y e yeares befor named 

Item yf it shall chans y e sayd barbara my wyfe to Marye then 

I wyll y* the sayd barbara ever after to have but ye on half & pro- 

fytes of my sayd houses & landes & the other half to remayne to 

ye us & profyt of my sonn mathew

Item yf he y l 


she shall marye w'all befor the day of ther Mar- 

iage shall be bound with sufficient suertyes in a bond of two hun- 

drethe £i to my sayd sonn Mathew for the performynge & fulfill- 

inge of thes his legacyes 

All ye Rest of my goodes unbequethed I giv to Barbara my wyfe 

she payinge all my Debts & seyinge my funerall Chardges Payd 

Executors of this my last wyll & testament I ordeyne & mak bar- 

bara my wyfe & my brother thomas Herd of Ramseye And he for 

to have for his Payns herin to be taken fyve £i of lawful money of 

england yf he shall do all the dutyes of my executor And for all 

other Costes and Chardges y l he shalbe at about ye sam executor- 

shyppe to be alowed hym by barbara my wyfe 

Item Also I wyll y* my houses & landes In ly till Otleye Called 

brandons & clay pyttes to be sold by myne executors & y l 

Richard 

Hedge of Ramsey to hav his former bargayne therin & he Payinge 

for it as hathe beine Rehersed befor sufficient wytnesses at his 

ffyrst bargayne Makyne & the money therof commynge to be 

Ordered by the Discretione of myne executors Thes beinge wyt- 

nesses John Lovell vicar of Ramsey Henry Smythe Wylliam 

luckyne & other mo withe Henry brooke 

Date of probate not given. 

John Lovell, one of the witnesses, had been appointed 

Vicar of Ramsey by Bishop Grindall about nine months 

before the date of the above Will ; he remained in the Parish 

less than four years.* 

27 Thomas 4 (Thomas, 3 Thomas,- Robert 1 

), of Harwich, was 

born not far from 1528, and was the son of Thomas and Anne 

* Lovell went from Ramsey to Stanwey, where he held the living of All Saints' and 

its Chapel-of-ease, St. Albright's, with that of the neighboring Church in Abberton, 

*intil his death, early in 1570.


Marvin of that town. All the knowledge we have of him is 

gained from the Wills, already printed, from which we learn 

that he married Elizabeth , and also the names of two 

of his children, but whether there were others does not 

appear. He was given a life-interest in his father's house 

and garden, with the furniture which it contained, and other 

property described with much particularity in his mother's 

Will (pp. 59-63, supra) ; this house was to pass to his eldest 

son at his death. Very probably he or his son is the Thomas 

Marvin recorded on the Parish Register of St. Nicholas, Har- 

wich, as buried there 8 October, 1577. His children, named 

in their grandmother's Will, were 

46 i. Thomas, 5 b. ? about 1554. 

47 

ii. Anne, b. ? about 1556. 

The earliest dates of baptisms in this Parish which I have 

are of 1559; these children (if of Harwich) must have been 

born before that time, as their names do not appear on the 

Registers, nor have I found any of later date recorded. No 

further information of the descendants of this family has 

been obtained, and Thomas (46) appears to have removed 

from Harwich, or died without male issue. 

A Jonc Marvyn who was married in that Church, 16 

March, 1599, to Henry Feminge, may have been a daugh- 

ter of Thomas (46), but as no entry of her birth has been 

found there, it is equally possible she was of one of the 

Ramsey or Suffolk families, and it is therefore useless to 

attempt to assign her.

36 John 5 


FIFTH GENERATION. 

(?John* John* John? Roger 1 

), of Ramsey, "yeo- 

man." The reasons for believing that he was the son of 

Reinold's brother John have been given on page 73. If that 

inference is correct, he was probably born about 1534, in 

Ramsey, where Reinold and his brothers resided. He died 

in 1571 (judging from the date of his Will), leaving children 

who were evidently young. He directs that these children 

shall be sent " to scoole till they can Wright and Read En- 

glishe well ; 

" they were each to have ten shillings yearly 

until they came to the age of fourteen, "to kepe them with 

meate, Dryncke and clothes suffycyent," and their guardian 

was charged " to bringe them upp in the ffeare of God and 

w th learninge." He does not mention his wife, from which 

we infer that she was not living. 

His home, which had a " newe parlor," and was well sup- 

plied with out-buildings, was evidently one of comfort and 

well furnished. We are given a glimpse of its contents, — 

a "posted bedsteade " with "curteynes of redd and grene 

save" '[? silk], a "great cheste in the parlor," a "syde table 

in the Hall, and the forme belonging thereto," and various 

other articles of convenience or luxury are mentioned in his 

Will. Its location was near the "Bridge foot ;" St. Michael's 

Church and Michaelstowe Hall were not far away. 

We are thus enabled to locate with great exactness the 

place where the home of John Marvin must have stood,


"with the free land acljoyning thereto." This estate, with 

two acres of woodland,— the latter probably that called Stur- 

wood in a later Will, he gave to his son Robert. He also 

owned " Fyrsson " or " Fryreson Marsh " as Morant calls it. 

This was a part of the endowment held by an ancient Chapel 

in the hamlet of Foulton, long since demolished, and was 

partly in Ramsey and partly in Dovercourt. Upon the dis- 

solution of chantries the endowment was granted in 1549 to 

William Fountayne and Richard Mayne, and this portion of 

their property must have soon come into the hands of John 

Marvin, who bequeathed it to his son John, who in his Will 

nearly twenty-five years later leaves it to his son Edward. 

In addition to the estates above named he owned a house 

and lands in Great Oakley, called Mellers, which were given 

to John. 

Great Oakley, like Little Oakley, lies on the sea-side, 

south of Ramsey. Morant says its name signifies an " Oak 

pasture." Among the old manors there he names Great 

Oakley Hall, situated a little over a mile from the Church ; 

this belonged to the Darcys ; others were Dengwell Hall, 

which paid a trifling ground rent to the owner of Roydon 

Hall, Ramsey, held also by some of the Darcys ; and Hour- 

bridge, owned in 1589 by John Borlas or Borlasy. The 

Church is dedicated to All Saints. Originally the patronage 

was vested in the Plaice family, who owned a handsome 

estate here in the fourteenth century ; from them it passed 

by the marriage of daughters to the Howards and the De 

Veres. Thomas Rochester was the Rector when John died.


In 1897 the Rev. Delaval S. Ingram, M. A., was the incum- 

bent, with a living of ^580 and a parsonage, St. John's 

College, Cambridge, holding the patronage. The population 

of the Parish is given as 845. 

The Church dates from an early period. Morant says the 

body is "of one pace with the chancel " and both are tiled. 

In 1553 there were five bells in the tower, which was built of 

stones and flints, its general style apparently much resem- 

bling those at Ramsey and Great Bentley. About the middle 

of the last century (before Morant's time), the steeple fell ; 

the four smaller bells were then sold for .£80, and this sum, 

with £,60 or £jo added, was applied to rebuilding it in 1765, 

when the large bell was rehung.* 

The various estates which he mentions, afford substan- 

tial proof that John Marvin was possessed of a goodly prop- 

erty for the times ; he was a prosperous farmer, and the 

various bequests made to relatives and to the poor of the 

three Parishes where his tenants lived, as well as the men- 

tion he makes of his flocks and herds and of his personal 

effects, give similar evidence, while the marriage of his son 

with the daughter of a prominent family of the county 

shows something of his social standing. We should like to 

know the fate of the " playne gold Rynge, wayenge almoste 

xvs." which he bequeathed to his son John, and of the 

" golden Rynge with letters, wayenge A Duckett," which he 

left to Robert ; while the gift to Hayle, who I believe was 

his brother-in-law, of his " nettes and lynes," may indicate 

* Morant's Essex, I, p. 489.

90 


that he had some interest with him in the fisheries of the 

North Sea, whose waters wash the shores of the Parishes 

east of Ramsey, and of which the adjoining borough of Har- 

wich and Dovercourt was then the chief port. 

He makes no allusion to his wife, from which it is inferred 

that she was no longer living. 

His children were 

48 i. John, 6 b. about 1558. As he bears his father's name and 

perhaps takes a larger share of the estate than his brother, 

[certainly in money], he may have been the elder. He mar. 

, dau. of Hieron Guylberd, by whom he had issue ; from 

the terms of his Will which is dated 14 July, 1594, and 

from the names of his children, as will be seen on a sub- 

sequent page, he may have been married a second time. 

49 ii. Robert, b. about ; he is given ^40, the " Rynge with 

letters," the house and lands at " the Bridge foot," Ramsey, 

and two acres of woodland in the same Parish, with other 

property. It will be observed that the house in Ramsey was 

the homestead, while his brother is given lands in another 

Parish. Robert also is to receive " the best " of some of 

the household furnishings, with sheep and cattle, while John 

has " the worste," and no share in the live stock is men- 

tioned as given him. The larger bequest of money to John 

may compensate for the preference in other matters which 

seems to be shown to Robert ; but as the comparative value 

of the lands and houses is unknown, and except the order in 

which the two are named there is nothing in the Will to in- 

dicate which was the elder son, and by his " birthright," 

entitled to the larger share in his father's estate, it may be 

thought that Robert was the elder. We learn nothing more 

of him.


The allusion in the following Will to the maker's " cousin 

Barbara" seems to require notice, because of the use of the 

word cousin, which at that period sometimes signified niece. 

If it be held that this is its meaning here, and the reference 

be to Reinold's daughter Barbara (I have found no other 

Barbara), it would indicate that the writer was the brother, 

not the nephew, of Reinold. It is evident from the latter's 

Will (see p. 79) that his brothers survived him, and it has 

been stated (p. 73) that possibly John was younger ; even if 

that John was born as early as 15 10, as we have conjectured, 

he would have been only sixty years old, if living, when this 

Will was drawn. 

But I do not think "cousin" means "niece" in this in- 

stance : if the writer was the brother of Reinold and Thomas, 

then Roger and Margaret, whom he calls his brother and 

sister, held the same relation to them ; but neither they, nor 

Elizabeth Hayle (35) who was evidently a sister of the writer, 

nor their children, are mentioned by Reinold or Thomas, 

although each of these names his two brothers and sister 

Christian, given on p. 39, and refers to their children : on 

the other hand this John does not mention either Reinold, 

Thomas, Christian, or their children. This silence — it can- 

not be intentional neglect— in the three Wills is significant. 

It is further evident from the terms of the Will below, and 

its provisions for the bringing up of the children, that both 

the boys were then quite young, as their guardian was to 

have "alowde him £$ And xs. to each of them yearly," until 

they were fourteen ; 

his " cousin " Barbara was then married 

1

92 


and had a son — a young man, but yet old enough to require 

father and son to be distinguished in the Will as "John the 

elder" and "John the younger." John (36) and Barbara 

were thus apparently about the same age. Reinold had six 

children living in 1554, and could not have been born very 

much later than the year assigned him (15 14), while the 

birth of the writer of this Will must have been certainly 

twenty years later, possibly more. I have therefore reached 

the conclusion given, — that the writer was the nephew and 

not the brother of Reinold, and that Barbara was his cousin 

as we now use the term, and as it was also often used at the 

period of this Will. 

WILL OF JOHN MARVYNE OF RAMSEY.* 

3Tn t\)t name of (Soft %imn The xxx 4i daye of January The yeare 

of our lord god 1570 in the xiij th yeare of the Raigne of our Soue- 

raigne Ladye Elizabeth by the grace of god of England ffraunce 

and Ireland Quene Deffendor of the ffayth &c I John Marvyne of 

Ramsey w th in the Countye of Essex yeoman and in the dyocese of 

London beynge sycke in bodye but yet of perfect and good remem- 

brance thankes be geven to almightie god Do make this my testa- 

ment and laste Wyll in manner and forme followinge 

ffyrste I bequeathe my Sowle to almightie god my maker and to 

Jhesus Christ his sonne my only Savyo r and redemer with the holy 

ghost my preserver and keper my bodye to the Earthe to be buryed 

in the Churche yarde of Ramsey afforesayd 

Item I geve to the pore folke of Ramseye Twenty Shillinges to be 

delyvered to them within a yere and a half after my departure by 

the dyscrecyon of my Executors Item I geve vnto the pore folke 


1570-71.


of Dovercorte ij s vj d to be delyvered to them within half a yeare 

after my Decease by th'andes of my Executors Item I geve to the 

pore folcke of muche Ockley ij s vj d to be delivered vnto them within 

half a yeare after my departure by the handes of my Executors 

Item I geve vnto Elizabeth Hale the wyffe of John Hale th'elder 

xiij s iiij d Item I geve to Wealth her Dawghter ij s vj d Item I geve 

to my Aunte Cooper of Harwiche x s Item I geve to Roger Cooper 

her sonne v s 

Item I geve vnto my Syster Margaret Clerck of Holbrecke x s 

Item I geve vnto Thomas Sharpe iij s iiij d Item I geve vnto Rich- 

ard Keyes iij s iiij d Item I geve vnto my Aunt Swatock x s Theis 

to be payd within half a yeare after my Departure 

Item I geve vnto John Hayle of Ramsey All my nettes and 

Lynes which are in his handes Item I geve vnto Wyllm Hayle 

of [place omitted in the copy] A black Jerckyn my best Doblett 

and ij s in monney Item I geve to John Were my Selgrowe Jerckyn 

Item I geve to John Wyxe two canvas Dooblettes Item I geve to 

John Bateman of Ramsey an olde Dublett and A payre of white 

russet hosen cutt of by the knees Item I geve vnto Wyllyam 

Dabne A payre of blacke Russet hosen Cut of by the knees Item 

1 geve vnto Bateman A payre of Shorte hosen and Dabne A 

payre of shorte hosen Item I geve vnto Wallys xij d Item I geve 

vnto Rychard Spencer twoe payre of knee breches and xij d Item 

I geve vnto old Lountle xij d Item I geve vnto John Hayle of 

Ramsey my best hatt Item I geve vnto Akers wyff xij d Item I 

geve vnto Denys Hare xij d Item I geve vnto Dabnes wyff xij d 

Item I geve vnto Barberry her Dawghter vj d Item I geve vnto the 

buyldinge of the Brydge v s Theis gyftes of monney to be payd 

within half A yeare after my departure of this my lyffe But I wyll 

the Rayment to be Delyvered vnto them Imedyatly after my De- 

parture this my lyef 

Item I geve and bequeathe vnto John Marvyne my Sonne my 

howse and landes called mellers with all the appurtenances thereto

94 


belonginge lyenge and beynge in much Ockley To have and 

to holde the same to him the said John and to his heyers for- 

ever Item I geve vnto the same John my Sonne more ffyrson 

Marshe lyenge and beynge in Dovercourte and Ramsey To have 

and to holde the same vnto him the same John and to his heyers 

forever 

Item I geve vnto John Marvyn my Sonne more Threscore 

Poundes of good and Laufull monney of England to be payd 

owte of the Revenewes of my landes Item I geue vnto the same 

John my sonne my worste ffether bedd and a boulster A pyllowe 

and a Couerlett A borded bedstede thereto belonging Item I 

geve to the sayd John my Sonne A table on the Soller and twoe 

small Chestes one of them on the soller and th'other in the newe 

parlor Item I geve vnto the same John my Sonne A playne golde 

Rynge wayenge almoste xv s 

Item I geve and bequeath vnto Robert Marvyn my Sonne All 

that my howse with th'appurtenances at the Brydge ffoote in Ram- 

sey with all the landes thereto belonginge with the ffreland adjoyn- 

inge thereto To have and to holde the same vnto the said Robert 

and to his heyors forever lykewyse I geve vnto the sayd Robert 

my Sonne twoe Acres of Woodd in the same Towne of Ramsey he 

to have and hold the same to him and to his heyors forever Item 

I geve vnto the sayd Robert my Sonne ffortye Poundes of good 

and lawfull monney of England to him and to his heyors forever 

Item I geve to the same Robert my Sonne Tenne Mylche beastes 

and ffortye Ewes The Kneadinge Troff in the backhowse and twoe 

Mowldinge bordes 

Item I geve unto Robert my Sonne more my best ffeather 

bedd with a payre of Lynsey Woolsey blanquettes A bowlster and 

twoe Pyllowes and my best Coverlett and A posted bedsteade with 

the curteynes of redd and grene Saye Item I geve to Robert 

my Sonne more my Sestorne iij trammelles and A yron barr in 

the hall Chymney Item I geve also vnto the sayd Robert my


Sonne twoe great Iron Cobyrons in the hall and my lead hanginge 

in the Backhowse Item I geve vnto the sayd Robert A great 

Cheste in the parlor and my Coberd and the Syde Table in the 

Hall & the fforme belonginge thereto Item I geve vnto the sayd 

Robert my Sonne A greate Salte Trouff in the Mylke howse and A 

Cheese layer and the thinge to salte in the Cheese and all the 

Shelves and Stooles in the Buttery Item I geve vnto Robert my 

Sonne A golden Rynge with letters wayenge A Duckett 

Item I wyll that all theis gyftes legacyes and bequestes of my 

sayd Children to be kept and preserved to the behoofe of my chil- 

dren and theyre heyres and assignes by my Executors or theyre 

lawfull Assignes to be delyvered vnto them At the Age of xxj fi 

yeares And yf any of my children departe this World before they 

come to that Age of xxj 1 

' 

1 yeares or withowte yssue of theyre bodyes 

lawfully begotten Then I wyll th'one to be th'others heyor aswell 

in howses & landes as in moveables 

And yff yt chaunce both my Children to departe this World be- 

fore they come to th'age of xxj li yeares or without yssue of theyre 

bodyes lawfully begotten Then I wyll that John Marvyn my brother 

Roger's Sonne shall have my howses and landes with the appurte- 

nances lyenge and beynge in Ramsey afforesayd (Exceptinge ffyrson 

Marshe) To have and to hold the same (Except before Excepted) 

vnto the sayd John Marvyn my brothers Sonne and to his heyors 

forever Condycyonally That he shall paye owte therof within ij 

yeares after he come to yt accordinge to my Wyll Seaven score 

Poundes of good and lawfull monney of England to my Executors 

or theyre lawfull assignes and they to Dystrybute yt as here after 

ffolloweth (That ys to saye) 

ffyrste I geve thereof vnto John Coopers Children of Harwyche 

xx 11 of good and lawfull monney of England parte and part lyke 

Item I geve and bequeathe thereof vnto Thomas Coopers Children 

of Ipswiche x 1 ' of good and lawfull monney of England part and 

part lyke Also I geve therof vnto my Cosen Wades Children that

g6 


he hathe by my Cozen barberry his Wyff ffortye Poundes of lawfull 

monney of England to be Delyvered vnto them parte and parte 

lyke 

Item I geve thereof to Margaret Marvyn the Dawghter of Roger 

Marvyn ffortye Poundes of good and lawfull monney of England 

Likewyse I geve thereof vnto my Aunte Maryon Swattocke v 11 of 

lawfull monney of Englande ffurthermore I geve thereof vnto her 

Children v 1 ' of lawfull monney of England parte and parte lyke I 

bequeathe more thereof unto the pore folcke of Ramsey Dover- 

courte and muche Ockley xx ]i of lawfull monney of England That 

ys to saye vj !i xiij s iiij d to Eache paryshe 

Likewyse yf yt so happen that god call my Children owte of this 

World as ys before wrytten Then I wyll that John Clarcke my Sus- 

ter Margarettes Sonne shall have ffyrson Marshe lyenge and beynge 

in Ramsey and Dovercourte to him and to his heyors forever Likewise 

then I geve vnto John Marvyn my brother Roger's Sonne my 

howse and landes called mellers withall the appurtenances thereto 

belonginge lyenge and beynge in muche Ockley to him and to his 

heyors forever Also then I geve unto John Hayle of Ramsey the 

elder or vnto his Assignes x 1J of lawfull monney of Englande 

Also I wyll geve and bequeathe and yf yt happen as is before Re- 

membred that bothe my children depart this world before they be 

at th' age of xxj 4i yeares or withowte issue of their bodyes lawfully 

begotten Then I wyll that all the monney & moveable goodes be 

sold with the Rest of my ffearme of my howses and landes that I 

have geven vnto my Children that my Executors shuld have ben 

countable for be layd togeather and so made A Summe of Monney 

The w ch monney I wyll to be ordered by my Executors or there 

Assignes and three honest men of Eache paryshe of Ramsey 

Dovercourt and Muche Ockley to buy some land or howse and land 

with the sayd Monney the which landes or howse and landes that 

may happen so to be bought within as shorte tyme as may be after 

the Deathe of my said Children I Wyll geve and bequeathe vnto

Rcinold and MattJietv Marvin 97 

the pore of the paryshes of Ramsey Dovercourte and Muche Ock- 

ley forever and the yearely ffarme of the sayd landes or howse and 

landes that maye happen to be so bought to be Dystrybuted equally 

to the pore as theye have neede of the sayd paryshes 

Item I wyll that John Hayle th'elder of Ramsey shall be gardyner 

to my Children and shall have alowde him owte of the profight of 

my landes to the bringing upp of my Children v 1 ' And x s to eache 

of them yearely tyll they come to the Age of xiiij yeare and to 

bring them vpp in the ffeare of god and w th learninge to sett them 

to scoole till they canne Wright and Reade Englishe Well And to 

kepe them with meate Dryncke and Clothes suffycyent 

Item I wyll That my Executors shall lett owte my howses and my 

landes as they be worthe to the proffytt of my Children and so to 

kepe them in good and suffycient Reparacions and so they to be 

countable to my Children my Dettes payd my legacyes fulfylled 

and my Children brought vpp The Rest of all my goods moveables 

and onmoveables I wyll to be parted part and part lyke amonges 

my sayd Children And of this my last will and Testament I do 

ordeyne and make John Hayle of Ramsey th'elder and John Wade 

of the same Towne th'elder Executors of this my last Wyll and 

testament to se yt fulfylled observed and kept as they wyll annswer 

before god at the Dredfull Daye of Judgement to whome for there 

paynes therin over and above theyre Reasonable Charges I doe 

wyll and geve the Somme of xxx s A pece 

And I desyer my ffreynd Thomas Hurre to be my supervysor 

of this my last wyll to see yt observed and kept to whome for his 

paynes therein over and above his reasonable Charges I doe wyll 

and geve Thirtene Shillinges and ffowre pence 

Wytnesses to this my last wyll John Smythe Thomas Hearde 

John Allen John Harvey Thomas Sharpe Scriptor with others 

Appended to the Will is the following acknowledgment, 

which has no date:—

98 


Surrender geven of the howsse and land at the brydge ffoote in Ramsey 

accordinge to my Wyll In the presens of Thomas Hearde John Weare tenantes 

and Wyllm Hearde in steede of bayly 

Surrender geven of the twoe Acres of Woodd accordinge to my Wyll in the 

presence of Thomas Hearde John Hayvard Tenantes and Wyllyam Heard in 

stede of Bayly. 

The copy of the original Will recorded at Somerset House, 

London, has neither signature nor date of probate, but the 

expression "beynge sycke in bodye" in the opening lines is 

an indication that he was then near his death. 

The bequest above to his "ffreynd Thomas Hurre . . . 

Supervysor," of what, by its mention of pence, — 13^. 4//., 

may be thought a singular amount, and similar legacies of 

one-half (6s. 8d.) and one-quarter that sum ($s. 4^.), which 

have appeared in several of the previous Wills, seem to 

deserve a brief explanation. In the reign of Edward III 

there was an issue of gold coinage, called " nobles," on which 

the king was represented in a ship, crowned and bearing his 

shield ; this was a very popular coin and passed for 6s. 8d. 

Half and quarter nobles of corresponding value were also 

struck. As the relative value of gold and silver fluctuated 

greatly in the following reigns, the gold coins also changed 

in value and in name ; 

— 

the nobles became "royals" or "rials," 

but continued to bear the device of the ship.* In the time 

of Henry VI a rial was worth 10s., and in that of Elizabeth, 

* C. F. Keary, F. S. A., in a paper on the " Coinage of the British Islands," origi- 

nally printed in The Antiquary, London, and later in the American Journal of Numis- 

matics, Vol. XX, p. 31, shows that the " older nobles gave place to the ryals, which, at 

first coined to be worth six-and-eight-pence, like their predecessors, were worth ten 

shillings " in the time of Henry VIII, although their weight had not been increased.


15^. ; but the custom centuries old of giving 6s. 8d., or some 

fraction or multiple thereof, lingered unchanged long after 

the coinage of a piece of that value had ceased. These gifts 

therefore represented, in the earlier days, the equivalent of 

one or another of these gold pieces, and were originally in- 

tended simply as mementoes, much as mourning rings were 

given later. 

There was also a gold coin called a " mark," of Spanish 

origin, which had a wide circulation, and in England was 

valued at two of the old nobles, or 13s., ^d. In the time of 

Henry VIII, especially, the debasement of the coinage of the 

realm led to a preference for foreign money, but the great 

confusion as to monetary values, particularly in the reigns of 

the early Tudors, (which embraces that covered by these 

Wills), finally corrected by Elizabeth, makes it very difficult 

to compare them with those of the present day. The gift to 

Hurre was the equivalent of a " mark." 

The relatives named have already been noted, and need no 

further comment here. 

There was an " endowed school " at Ramsey, which was in 

operation not many years ago, and may still continue, but I 

have been unable to learn its history. I should have been 

glad to find that it was the " scoole " at which the sons of 

John were " sett till they canne Wright and Reade Englishe 

Well." Similar provisions are made in other Wills in this 

volume. There were also endowed schools at Dedham and 

Colchester, Essex, and at Ipswich, Suffolk, of considerable 

antiquity and repute.

loo 


The gift to the poor of Dovercourt shows an interest in 

that Parish, and other members of the family beside John 

owned property there ; some of them lived very near its lines, 

if not within the place itself, but a search of its oldest records 

extant would be useless, since the Registers date from 1706 

only, long after our ancestors left England. It was the 

"mother Parish" of Harwich, and adjoined Ramsey on the 

north-west and Oakley on the south. Some of the wives 

whose maiden names have not been found doubtless came 

from neighboring villages, and Dovercourt may well have 

been the home of one or more of these — especially as a 

careful search in the other Parishes near Ramsey which have 

Registers old enough to supply the information desired, have 

failed to give us any light.* 

* Some results of the study of the Harwich Registers have been given on a preced- 

ing page ; others will be found in the Appendix. A second visit and search has failed 

to show an earlier Register than 1559, although the " Parish Register Abstract," printed 

in 1833 by order of the House of Commons, states that there was then extant a volume 

of " Baptisms, Burials and Marriages," which began in 1539. I wish to express my 

thanks to the Vicar of St. Nicholas and his Clerk, for their kindness in seeking this 

missing volume, although unsuccessful. It is proper to say that the customs of the two 

countries differ widely : here, the Records are open freely to those who desire to con- 

sult them ; there, it is the custom for a Vicar to require a fee from everyone who wishes 

to examine his Register. In marked contrast with the treatment received at Harwich 

was the course taken by the Minister of another Parish, which I will not name, who, in 

reply to a letter of inquiry, sent a curt response, with a demand for a guinea fee before 

any notice would be taken. As gratuitous service was neither suggested nor desired, 

this was unexpected, and I am happy to say that it was the only experience of the kind 

in a search through many Parishes in Essex and Suffolk. It is a pleasure to see that 

the number of printed transcripts of the early Registers is constantly increasing. " The 

Parish Register Society" and similar bodies in England, as well as private gentlemen, 

are doing excellent work in making these sources of knowledge, which are of the 

greatest value, accessible to all.

Reinold and Matthew Marvin. ioi 

For more than two hundred years that part of the County 

of Essex which contains Tendring Hundred was familiar 

ground to our ancestors, and in the local history of Dover- 

court especially, during the sixteenth century, there were 

events of more than ordinary interest, which must have been 

well known to all who lived in its immediate neighborhood 

when they occurred, — particularly the burning of the famous 

rood of All Saints, the Parish Church of Dovercourt, at the 

dawn of the Reformation. 

The name of the town is said to have been derived from 

old British words meaning a coast or reach of water. Its 

principal manor was early held, if it was not built, by Hugh 

Bigod, who married a daughter of one of the De Veres, a 

family with large possessions in that vicinity. Early in the 

fourteenth century this manor passed to the Mowbrays, and 

its history can be traced in Morant. "The village," says 

Newcourt, " hath two Fairs ; one is in Lent, even on Good 

Friday, the other on that Monday which follows next after 

Holy Cross day [Sept. 14], neither of them of any great con- 

cernment, being chiefly frequented by the country neighbors 

to eat a mess of frumenty, spend a groat in cakes and ale, 

or a penny with a pedler." There was once a "Presbyter 

Guild " or Fraternity of St. George, with a house not far 

from the Church, "for the maintenance of which there 

were certain lands and houses and a garden, in Harwich, 

and it is supposed," says the same writer, "that the 

George Inn, over against the Church, did first take its 

name from it, and either was it, or belonged to it. Its


support was taken away by Elizabeth in the fourteenth year 

of her reign." 

The Church, dedicated to All Saints and usually called 

" All-Hallows," was built by Alberic De Vere. It consists 

of a nave, one pace with the chancel, all tiled, and is in the 

Early English style with later insertions. There is a south 

porch and a western tower, square and massive, which con- 

tains five bells, the treble bell having the motto 

On the north is a modern vestry. The exterior has been 

liberally coated with plaster, so that the structure of the 

walls is concealed. Owing to its great age, it nearly collapsed 

in the seventeenth century, at which time many heavy but- 

tresses were built to preserve it from falling ; indeed the 

whole building was restored or greatly modified by Sir 

George Whitmore, in 1615. The nave has two windows on 

the north and south, and is also lighted from the tower, 

which has its newel-stair on the northern side ; the chancel 

has two plain perpendicular windows on the north and the 

same number on the south, and there is a modern flamboyant 

window in the east wall. The roof is of the king-post type, 

but the rafters were concealed by a plaster ceiling when the 

description was written from which I have quoted. The 

font is an interesting specimen of ancient perpendicular 

work, with sunken panels of tracery and geometrical pat- 

terns ; it has an octagonal bowl set diagonally on a square 

base, with shafts at the angles and fluted panels between.

Rcinold and Matthetv Marvin 103 

It is evidently of considerable antiquity. Another curious 

relic of the sixteenth century is the " Poor-box," of oak, in- 

scribed 

Hx the $oor, 1589. 

The communion plate is comparatively modern, most of it 

not older than 1773.* 

From early times the Church had a vicarage and endow- 

ment, of which the Prior and Convent of Colne were patrons. 

This Priory was founded by Roger Bigod " for the good of 

his soul and that of his mother, the Countess Juliana (who 

was the daughter of Alberic de Vere), and his brother Count 

Hugh," and the Clerks of All Saints were for a long period 

supplied from among its brothers. To this Priory historians 

ascribe the erection in All Saints' of the famous rood or 

crucifix alluded to above, "whose supposed sanctity drew 

from far unto it many votaries and devoted pilgrims, with 

their offerings." It was currently believed that none might 

without great danger, even of sudden death, attempt to shut 

the Church doors upon it, day or night; but in 1532, three 

men from Dedham and a fourth from East Bergholt, " in a 

frosty night, together entering the secure (yet always open) 

Church, took it down, and carrying it about a quarter of a 

mile upon the Green, with its own tapers fir'd it to ashes, 

for which three being apprehended, were hang'd at several 

places ; one of them, (Nicolas Marsh,) suffered death at 

Suckling, "Antiquities of Essex," published in 1845, has engravings of two of the 

Church windows, and Dale, " History and Antiquities of Harwich and Dovercourt," 

gives a picture of the Church at p. 73.


Dovercourt ; the fourth of them escaped, of which in the 

Parish still remaineth a plentiful tradition." 

The story is given at length in Fox's Martyrs.* There 

still remains a curious carved beam supported by brackets 

between the nave and the chancel, which is thought to 

have been erected above the place once occupied by this 

"holy rood." 

According to Newcourt's list the Clerk at that time was 

John Holand, who was succeeded by John Roberts, Christ- 

mas Eve, 1533; he was followed by Christian James ;f 

William Burgess took charge 30 October, 1567; and on 

his death Hugh Branham, A. M., succeeded, 20 November, 

1579. The later succession of the Clergy will be found in 

Newcourt.J 

37 Roger, 5 (John,* John, 3 John, 2 Roger 1 

), b. ; mar. 

. Our 

only knowledge of him is from the Will of his 

brother John (36), which names him and the first two of his 

children given below, who were living in 1571 ; the order of 

birth is unknown, and I think there was probably a third, not 

named in the Will. 

50 i. John, 6 b. . Probably the "cousin" named in the 

Will of John (48), which is printed below. 

51 ii. Margaret, b. . 

52 iii. ? Reinold, b. ? about 1571 ; mar. Annys . I sup- 

pose him to be the " cousin " Reynold named in the Will of 

* See Newcourt, II: p. 217, who refers to Fox, I: p. 250, of an edition printed 

about 1600. 

t See p. 55, supra. % Repertorium, II : p. 220.

Remold and Matthav Marvin 105 

John (48), made in 1594, for whom I am unable to find any 

other place. As he is not mentioned in the Will of his uncle 

John (36), he was probably born after that was made, if the 

assignment to this family is correct. 

40 Edward, 5 (Reinold* John? John? Roger 1 

), born in 

Ramsey about 1550, or probably earlier, as his father's Will 

is dated in 1554/5, which it will be remembered mentioned 

six children. He was evidently a man of considerable 

property, owning lands and houses in various Parishes, which 

he bequeathed to his sons. From his father he inherited a 

house and lands in Wrabness ; by this we are enabled to 

identify him as the son of Reinold (16) ; this, together with 

a house and land in Wix, he left to his son Edward, 6 who 

disposes of them in his Will. These two parcels in Wix 

and Wrabness adjoined each other, and the son's Will enables 

us to locate them very nearly, as will be seen later. 

The principal Manor in Wrabness — " Wrabness Hall " — 

was originally a part of the estate of Maud, Countess of 

Oxford; in 141 2/3, she gave it to a sisterhood of nuns.* 

Later it became the property of the Ayloffes, as has already 

been mentioned ; f it is a little east of All Saints' Church. 

Suckling says this ancient Church bears evidence of having 

been erected in the time of the Norman kings. The northern 

door is closed with masonry, but once had a circular arch 

and plain mouldings. In 1845, when he described it, "the 

entrance was on the south side, through a small porch which 

* Newcourt, II : p. 686. t See p. 76, supra. \ Suckling, as cited, p. 106. 

$


has a doorway surmounted by a Norman arch with billet 

mouldings, which has given way to a pointed form, orna- 

mented with a double line of square florettes, encrusted with 

. . . whitewash." The interior, — a very small nave and 

chancel, — had an east window and "a high pitched roof 

of oak, but no armorial ensign or architectural device of any 

kind, while its humble, octangular font bears marks of the 

despoiler's hand in no ordinary way." William Vaughan was 

"Clerk" from 9 May, 1555, holding the living after that 

date jointly with that of Ramsey until his death ; * John 

Greene next took it, 8 October, 1560, and on his resigna- 

tion Thomas Sayer succeeded him, remaining until his death 

in 1608. 

f 

In Ramsey Edward owned a tenement and lands, which he 

disposed of under conditions, before his death, to his son 

Thomas, and confirmed the "surrender," acknowledging the 

performance of the conditions, in his Will. He had also 

conveyed to his son Richard in a similar manner a tene- 

ment in the same Parish called Moye House, and land of 

"Moyses;" this was probably near the Manor of Mose, or 

Moyse Hall, which stood not far from the little bay that sets 

into the land between "'the Naze " and the eastern coast of 

Tendring Hundred ; this conveyance is also confirmed in his 

Will, with a like acknowledgment. Other "landes, medowes, 

woodes and pasters " in the same neighborhood he gave to 

his son Reinold, the New England emigrant, subject to an 

* See pp. 17 and 80 supra, f Newcourt, II : p. 687.


annual payment to the widow (Reinold's mother). Robert, 

another son, took his father's free lands in Frating, a Parish 

west of Little Bentley, and Matthew, his youngest son, was 

given the "mentchon house" that "I now dwelle in," in 

Great Bentley, "called Edons alles (? alias) Dreybrockes, and 

the crofts of land called Hartles and Brocken Heddes," sub- 

ject to a similar annuity. No effort has been made to dis- 

cover the exact location of these estates in Great Bentley, 

but I have been informed it is probable that the task would 

not be very difficult. 

Wix adjoins Wrabness on the south-west, and is two and a 

half miles from the railroad station, and seven miles from 

Dovercourt. The name of this Parish, which is called Wica 

in Domesday, comes, as Morant remarks, "from the Saxon 

word J>ic, which means a village, farm, or dairy." In the 

time of Henry I there was a famous Benedictine Abbey here, 

called St. Mary's, founded by Walter, Alexander and Editha 

Mascherell, children of "Walter the Deacon." Newcourt * 

says it was originally " of the order of St. Austin, the sisters 

whereof, during their time, took care to have the cure [of the 

Parish Church, St. Mary's] supplied by such Clerks as them- 

selves provided." 

This Priory was surrendered to Wolsey by the Abbess 

Mary in 1527, and part of its property was applied toward 

* As cited, II : p. 656. St. Austin, better known as St. Augustine of Canterbury, is 

believed to have introduced the Benedictine rule into England by the order of the 

Pontiff Gregory the Great, about the close of the sixth century, so that the statements 

are not necessarily inconsistent; but if the Nunnery ever bore his name, it was early 

dedicated to the Virgin.


the foundation of his famous College at Ipswich, dedicated 

to the Virgin, the patron saint of that city. Its revenues at 

that time amounted to £,


The western front shows decided marks of a much higher 

antiquity. Its buttresses, which are plain and flat, scarcely 

project from the main wall, and flank a low-browed, circular 

doorway." * A detached belfry, a curious structure of wood, 

— much like that in Wrabness, — and of much older date 

than the Church, stands a few yards away in the centre of 

the Church-yard, and has been thought to be a relic of a still 

more ancient building. This contains a single bell bearing 

the inscription " around the lip " 

si© noffien DOfflirai BerieDi

no The English Ancestry of 

previous to his removal to Great Bentley, does not appear ; 

the births of his older children are not recorded in the latter 

Parish ; no Marvins appear on the records of St. Mary's, 

Wix,* and the Registers of Ramsey and of Wrabness (the 

nearest Church to his home), are not old enough to help us. 

If he came from Ramsey, where we have seen he had an 

estate, he may have left there during the troubles which 

arose on account of the character of the Vicar, John White, 

who died 1591.! We find him at Great Bentley 7 June, 1593, 

on which date the Parish Register records the baptism of 

two of his sons. 

He married Margaret , who survived him. He died 

in Great Bentley, and was buried in St. Mary's Church-yard 

in that Parish. His Will is dated 13 November, 161 5; it 

was proved 17 January following. The date of the death of 

his widow has not been learned. Their children were cer- 

tainly seven in number ; the dates of birth of the elder are 

unknown, but the names are arranged below as mentioned 

in the Will. 

53 i. Edward, from his name and also as first mentioned by 

his father, thought to be the eldest son, b. in 1581 or earlier 

mar. 12 Aug. 1603, Betteris [Beatrice] , who survived 

him. 

54 ii. Thomas, b. about 1583; he was made supervisor of his 

father's Will. 

55 iii. Richard, b. about 1585 ; mar. at Great Bentley, 1 Nov., 

1610, Suzin Loosk (Parish Register). 

* These date from 1560. t See p. 17, supra. 

;

Rcii/o/d and MattJiciv Marvin 1 1 

56 iv. Robert, b. about 1587; mar. at Great Bentley, 8 Nov., 

16 1 6, Susan Core [? Cory]. (The surnames of the wives of 

Richard and Robert are somewhat illegible On the Register.) 

57 v. John, bap. 7 June, 1593, at Great Bentley. 

58 vi. Reinold, bap. 7 June, 1593, at Great Bentley; as the 

two brothers were baptized on the same day (St. Mary's 

Parish Register), they may have been twins, but this is not 

indicated on the record, which it was usual to do in such 

cases. John is not mentioned in his father's Will, and it is 

inferred that he died in childhood. Reinold mar. about 

1617 (probably in a neighboring Parish), Mary ; she d. 

in Lyme, Ct., in 1661, and he d. there in the summer of 

1662. 

59 vii. Elizabeth, b. ; mar. John Hayes. She may have 

been one of the older children, for her husband is made 

executor of her father's Will, and neither her birth nor mar- 

riage is found on the Great Bentley Record ; the reason for 

placing her between Reinold and Matthew is simply the in- 

terval of seven years between the baptisms of those brothers. 

60 viii. Matthew, bap. at Great Bentley, 26 March, 1 599/1 600 ; 

mar. (1) about 1623, but no record is found on St. Mary's Reg- 

ister, Elizabeth , who died in Hartford, Ct, certainly 

before 1647, and probably in '> 1645 ( 2 ) Mrs. Alice, widow of 

John Bouton, Sr., of Hartford ; her Will is dated r Dec, 

1680, and the Inventory, "Last of January, 1 680/1." Mat- 

thew's Will is dated 20 Dec, 1678 ; he died in Norwalk, Ct., 

soon after, but the exact date is unknown. 

Following the notes on the Family, printed by my Father, 

the late T. R. Marvin, in 1846, based in part on the opinion 

of his correspondent, the late Rev. Sylvester Judd, of North- 

ampton, Mass., I included another daughter, Hannah, in 

this family, in the Marvin monograph, printed in " Family 

Histories and Genealogies," by Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. 

1

112 77/ c English Ancestry of 

Salisbury, of New Haven, Ct., in 1892 ; at that time the 

English home had not been found. This Hannah was early 

in Hartford, Ct., where she was married 25 August, 1644, to 

Francis Barnard, and died at Hadley, Mass., in 1676, soon 

after the birth of her youngest child. From the fact that no 

such daughter is named in Edward's Will or on St. Mary's 

Register, as well as from the date of her marriage and 

the births of her children, I am now convinced that she was 

not a sister of Reinold and Matthew, and, with our present 

knowledge, it seems very doubtful if the name on the record 

from which the assignment was deduced was intended for 

" Marvin." 

WILL OF EDWARD MARVIN OF MUCHE BENTLEY.* 

3Jn tljc name of

Reinold and MattJicw Marvin 1 1 

payed unto heme by my Executor w th in on quartor of a yere next 

after my decesse 

Item I geve & bequethe unto Thomas my sonne five powndes of 

good & lawffull money of England to be payed unto heme by my 

Executors w th in on quartor of a yere next after my Decesse all so 

I do acknowleg that the saied Thomas my sonne have performed all 

condections acording to a cartain surrender w ch I have made unto 

hem of one tenemente & cartain Landes lying in Ramssey 

Item I geve & bequethe unto Richard my sonne five powndes of 

good & Lawffull money of England to be payed unto heme w th in 

on quartor of a yere nexte after my dessece by my Executor All 

so I do acknowleg that the said Richard my sonne have performed 

all Condictions acording to a cartain Surrender w ch I made unto 

heme of on tenemente Called moye howsse & cartain Lande parsell 

of moysses 

Item I geve & bequethe unto Robart my sonne all my free 

Landes Leienge in ffratting as it is nowe in the Teneor & ocipaction 

of Richard Barnes or his Assignes To heme & to his heires for ever. 

Item I geve & bequethe unto Renowld Marvin my sonne all my 

Landes medowes woodes & pasters Called Moysses nowe in the 

tenower & ocipaction of me to heme & to his heiers for ever upon 

Condection that the fornamed Renowld my sonne his heiers execu- 

tors Admenestrattors or Assignes shall paye or Causse to be payed 

unto margrette my wiffe or to here assignes yerly & everey yere 

dureing here nattrall Liffe the Sume of Sexe Powndes of good & 

Lawffull money of England at two ussall tarmes of the yere that 

is to saie at the feste Daye of the blessed virgen St marey & St 

Michell the arkangell beinge Lawffully demanded by even & equall 

portchons 

Item I geve & bequethe unto Mathewe my sonne my howsse that 

I nowe dwelle in w th all the Landes thare unto belonging Called 

Edons alles Dreybrockes & ij Croftes of Land called Ilarttes & 

Brocken Heddes to heme & to his heires for ever up on Condiction 

3

1 14 


that the fornamed mathewe my sonne his heires executors Admen- 

estratores or assignes shall paye or Causse to be payed unto Mar- 

grett my wiffe or to heier assignes yerley & everey yere deueringe 

heire nattrall Liffe the fulle sume of Sexe Powndes of good & 

LawfTull money of England at two ussall tarmes of the yere that 

is to saie at the feste Daye of the Blessed virgen S l . Marey 

& 

S' Michell the arkangell beinge Lawffully demanded by even & 

equall Portchons at the mentchon howse called Edons alles Drey- 

brocks Provided thate if mathewe my sonne or his heiers execu- 

tors Admenestrators or assignes shalle & doe note paye or Causse 

to be payed unto the fornamed margrett my wiffe or to heier as- 

signes in manor & fforme above declared that then I well that this 

presente gefte of all my forenamed Howsses & Lands called Edons 

alles Draybrockes & ij Croftes of Land called Harttes & Brocken- 

heddes to be utterley voyde & of none effect to heme & to his 

heiers But then I welle & bequethe all my fornamed Howsses 

& Landes unto Renowlde my sonne & to his heiers & he & his 

heiers or assignes to perfforme this my gefte of Sexe powndes yerley 

unto margrett my wiffe out of Edons alles Dreybrockes Harttes & 

Brockenheddes acording to the trewe mening of this my will & 

furder I do apoynt by this my will that upon the Recaving of aney 

money every halfe yere Margrett my wiffe shall make eaithere of 

my sonnes an aquettanc for such sumes as she or heir assignes 

shall Recave 

Item I geve & bequethe unto Margrett my wiffe thre Cowes or 

nette or tenn ewes & x w th ers of the beste of my fflocke & more 

over I geve & bequeth unto the fornamed margrett my wiffe all my 

Howssold stofe being w th the howsses 

Item I geve & bequeth unto John Bishop the sonne of Zackerey 

Bishop vj? viij d to be payed unto heme by my executor 

Item I make to this my Laste welle for executor John Hayes my 

sonne in Lawe Item I make & ordain to this my will Thomas 

Marvin my sonne to be my Superovicer

Reinold and MattJicw Marvin 1 1 5 

All the Reste of my goodes & Chattells unbequethed I holley 

geve & bequethe unto my wiffe & my fower Children Robart 

Renowld Mathewe & Elizebthe to be equaley Divided betwene 

them 

I wettnes whare of I have to this my presente testement & Laste 

well Sette to my Hand & selle geven the Daye & yere furst above 

wrettin & in the presentes of us whosse names are here under 

wretten 

Tho: Beryffe Edward V Marvin 

Stephen Cole sener 

Proved at Colchester 17 January, A. D. 1615. 

his marke 

The two " ussall tarmes " are the " Feast of the Annun- 

ciation," which falls on 25 March, and Michaelmas day, that 

of " St. Michael and all Angels," on 29 September. 

41 John 5 

(? Reinold,* John,* John, 2 Roger 1 

). 

There were 

several John Marvins who were contemporary, and it has 

been found difficult to distinguish them ; while it has not 

been established with certainty that John " of Okelye parva 

housbandman," as he calls himself in his Will, was that 

son of Reinold and Johan to whom his father left " Gen- 

ettes " in Ramsey, a study of the material which has been 

gathered affords some reasons for believing the assignment 

we have made to be the most probable. The Will, which was 

made just before his death, contains no mention of any prop- 

erty in Ramsey, although it shows that he had other " houses 

and landes vnbequethed," not named, and it is possible that 

among these were "Genettes." 

He appoints John Wade of " lytle Okelye " to be the 

" garden " of his only daughter, and makes him his executor.

n6 The English Ancestry of 

Rcinold's daughter Barbara married a John Wade, who was 

of Ramsey when her father died. I judge the two were 

identical, and that Wade was the brother-in-law, though the 

residence of the executor was Little Oakley, which is the 

adjoining Parish on the south and east. As tending to show 

that Reinold's son John may have removed from Ramsey to 

Little Oakley, we note that Thomas, the brother of Reinold, 

owned an estate in the latter Parish, which, in the event of 

the death of his son Matthew without issue, was to go to his 

nephews. Nothing has been learned of this Matthew, but 

if he died unmarried, his cousin John would have inherited 

a share of that estate, which may account for his presence 

there. 

If our assignment is incorrect, there remains the possi- 

bility that he was the son of Roger (37), the date of whose 

birth has not been learned ; that son, however, as will be 

seen below, I think must be the John whose marriage is 

found on the Register at Great Bentley. 

John was twice married : first, to Anne , 

who 

died in 

Little Oakley and was buried* there n September, 1584, 

by whom he had a daughter. He married as his second 

wife Margaret , evidently in the autumn or winter of 

1584/5, his Will being dated 5 March 1584/5, and his burial 

is registered at St. Mary's three days later, but no record of 

his marriage appears there. The allusion to Alice Gyllyat, 

his "kynsewoman," and her " syster Ann Pakeman," who was 

very likely the wife of Lawrence, may suggest a clue to the 

* Parish Register of St. Mary's Church, Little Oakley.

Remold and Matthew Marvin 1 1 

maiden name of one of these wives, but no attempt has been 

made to trace their connection. 

Aside from his residence John owned several other houses 

and lands, for he names four of his tenants. One of these 

estates (not the homestead) he gives conditionally to his 

widow during her life, and her issue, should there be a 

posthumous child ; if she die childless, all is to revert to his 

daughter by his first wife, who was 

61 Ann, 6 b. , but evidently not of age when her father died. 

Whether there was another child has not been learned. 

His original Will is still preserved at Somerset House, the 

year being somewhat obscure, and it has no signature ; in 

the copy on the records * the year is written out in words, 

and the date is further confirmed by the Parish Register at 

Little Oakley, as given above. I have transcripts of both 

the original and the copy ; 

the latter calls the daughter Anne, 

and there are variations in the spelling and the capitals, but 

otherwise they are identical. The original follows ; it has no 

date of probate. 

WILL OF JOHN MERVEN OF OKELYE PARVA.f 

3fa tl)e name of pfc amen The v th daye of merche in the yere 

of our lorde god 1584 I John Merven of Okelye parva in ye countye 

of Essex housbandman & of the Dyoces of London beyng of good 

& perfect Remembraunce thankes be to god do make and ordayne 

thys my last wyll & testament in maner & forme folowyng 

* Archdeaconry of Colchester, Roote 295 (fo. 318). 

t Archdeaconry of Colchester, Bundle Ward No. 60. 

7

118 The EnglisJi Ancestry of 

fyrst I bequeth my sowle to almyghtye god my creator & my 

body to be buryed in the yerthe 

Item I geve vnto Mergreat my wyffe the one halfe of all my 

movable goodes Item more I geve my house where Sewell dwelleth 

wyth the yeard therto belongyng wyth all my land on the other 

syde the waye vnto my sayed wyffe duering hyr naturall lyfe one 

thys condycyon that she clayme no thyrdes in my other land and yf 

she be wyth chylde I geve yt vnto that chylde for Ever after my 

wyfes deces 

Item I geve vnto ales gyllyat my kynsewoman vj? viij d more I 

geve vnto hyr syster An pakeman iij? iiij d Item I geve vnto penlye 

iij? iiij d more I geve vnto Sewell my tennante \\f. iiij d 

all the Rest of my goodes vnbequethed I geve vnto An merven 

my dowghter my detes beyng payd wyth all the houses & landes 

vnbequethed whatsoever they be to hyr & her heyers for Ever and 

I wyll John Wade of lytle Okelye aforsayd to be hyr garden vntyll 

she come to the age of xxiiij yeres & he to have & take all the 

prophyt of hyr land tyll she come to hyr aforesayd age to se hyr 

kept & well brought up 

Item I wyll that yf god take awye my doughter before John 

Sallawes leace be exspyred then I wyll the sayde John Wade 

shall have & take all the Rent that should have ben dew vnto 

hyr duryng that leace in consyderacion of monye that I do owe 

hym 

Item I wyll that my wyffe shall paye out of hyr part to more of 

Harwyche xxx s & to John Herd & John Wade v'f. viij d that I do 

owe them for grounde I hyred of them 

Item I surrender my landes & houses in to the handes of the 

lord in the presents of John Herd & Thomas Cartwryt tenanntes 

John Sewell beyng baylyfe to the vse of my wyll & I ordayn Jon 

Wade aforsayd to be myne Executor to se thys my wyll fulfylled 

wytnes here unto thomas cartwryt John Herde John Sallowes 

Laurence pakeman wyth other mo

Reinold and MattJiczv Marvin 119 

The name of the tenant is John Sallowes in both places 

in the copy ; in the first instance in the Will it may be 

"fallowes." Whether John Herd was one of the Ramsey 

family of that name, one of whom married Rcinold's sister 

Christian [see 18, p. 39], has not been learned. 

62 Thomas, 5 of Copdocke, b. , ( , 

4 

? Robert? John* 

Robert, 1 

) who was incidentally alluded to on page 67, must 

here be mentioned. There is nothing to show that any re- 

lationship existed between him and Robert (11) of Great Bel- 

stead, or his brother John, aside from the fact that one of the 

family name is found with his children living in that little 

village contemporaneously with descendants of John. 2 

It was 

interesting to discover, when the search of the Washbrook 

Register from 1559 to 1600 was made, that there are several 

families of Marvins still residing in Copdocke * (the adjoin- 

ing Parish), but as the Registers of Chattisham and Belstead 

contain no Marvins, and those of Copdocke begin with 1701, 

nothing can now be learned to show what connection, if 

any, there was between these, or Thomas, and those already 

mentioned, who resided in that immediate vicinity. 

All that can be said is, that as Robert was born in 1489 or 

earlier, and this Thomas died in 1597, the latter might have 

been the son, but more probably I think the grandson, of 

Robert, and, if so, was of the fifth generation. Apparently 

also, as will be seen, he had a grandson Robert. 

He married Marian , who survived him and was the 

executrix of his Will, which was dated 7 August, 1597, and 

* Letter from Miss Walford.


proved at Ipswich " by the relict "12 October following, thus 

showing very nearly the date of his death. He was buried 

in Copdocke Churchyard. His children named in his Will 

were : 

63 i. Thomas, 6 b. . He 

mar. 26 Oct., 1577, 

is thought to be the Thomas who 

in Washbrook, Mary Skotte, and had 

(1) Isaacke? bap. there 16 Feb., 1578/9 ; (2) Robert, bap. 

17 April, 1581 ; (3) Mary, bap. 24 Oct., 1585 (Washbrook 

Register). 

64 ii. Elizabeth, b. ; mar. Bloboll. 

65 iii. Richard, b. ; if the children recorded at Washbrook 

were those of his brother Thomas, we should infer that the 

granddaughter ll Katterin," 1 named in the Will below, was 

Richard's daughter, as she is not found on that Register. 

WILL OF THOMAS MORVIN OF COBDOCKE.* 

3ftl tlje name of ~v'm, when first written in the Will, while the printed Calendar 

has it Morwin. Similar variations of spelling are not unusual on those records, 

e.g., John Marvin, Sr., was indexed John Merwin ; these have been carefully noted 

by my correspondent ; but similar " orthographic eccentricities " were common to the 

period. 

—

Reinold and Matthezv Marvin 121 

ffirst I give & bequeth unto Thomas Murvin my Sonne & Eliza- 

beth Bloboll my Daughter one bond of £6. 3. 8. to be paid unto 

me or my executors from Robert Clark at Michallmas come twelve 

month to be equally divided betwin them & if either of them shall 

depart this lief before the mony be due then my will is that the 

Survivor shall Injoy the whole 

Item I give unto Richard my Sonne 3 Lames & 3 Hewes to be 

delivered presently after my death & a seame a wheat to be deliv- 

ered vnto him affore Christmes next 

Item I give unto Katterin Murvin my grandchild one Kaderne 

that was my mothers to be delivered unto her presently after my 

death All my other goodes unbequeathed I give unto my wife 

Marian Murvin whom I doe Constitute & make sole executrix of 

This my last will & testament & doe by theise presence Renowce 

all fformer willes & testamentes & of this my last will & testament 

I ordaine my loving ffrind & neibour Robert Wates to be super- 

visor 

In wittness whereof I have hereunto put my hand & sealle the 

day & yere first above written 

Witnesses wherof Richarde Birmii Rob Wake 

Signum et sigillum 

Proved at Ipswich 12 October 1597 by the relict. 

Thome Murvin 

This Will was signed and sealed, but the original is not 

extant, and there is nothing to show what device the seal 

may have borne. The ' 

Kaderne that was his mother's ' was 

possibly a cradle, as I find the word kader or cadcr, which 

nearly approaches that in the Will, so explained by English 

authorities.* 

* See Strattman's " Middle-English Dictionary." Oxford, 1891, and " English Dialect 

Dictionary," by Joseph Wright, London, 1898, s. v. cade r.


Before proceeding to the Sixth Generation some notes on 

the daughters of John 8 

(12), properly belonging in the Fourth 

Generation, will be given. These are based on information 

received since the account of that family was printed.* 

32 Maryon 4 (John* John, 2 Robert 1 

) was the daughter of 

John and Rose (Smythe) Marvin, of Chattisham, Suffolk. 

The date of her birth has not been ascertained, but was 

about 1525, for it is evident from what has been given above 

(pp. 69, 70) that the sisters were all quite young when their 

father died in 1535/6. From the provisions of his Will, in 

which Maryon is first named and apparently receives a larger 

portion than her sisters Agnes and Johan, I conclude that she 

was the eldest daughter. It is also clear from her mother's 

Will that Johan was unmarried in April, 1557. Rose men- 

tions her sons-in-law, Christopher Alderman, made executor, 

and Thomas Glamfelde, by which we learn the names of the 

husbands of the married daughters. The evidence on which 

is based the belief that Maryon was the wife of Glamfelde 

is found in the Will of a "Thomas Glamefeild of Hintlesham, 

Suffolk, husbandman." f 

This Will, of which an abstract is printed below, is dated at 

Hintlesham, a Parish adjoining Washbrook and Chattisham, 

4 April, 1595, and was proved 22 May of that year. As it 

* See pp. 67-72, supra. 

t Recorded at Ipswich, Calendar of Suffolk Wills, Book XXXV (1594-5), fo. 

394. I have an abstract of the Will of another Thomas Glamfelde, of Tatingstone, a 

Parish near Belstead, proved 19 October, 1592, and recorded at Ipswich, loc. cit. 

XXXIV (1592-3), fo. 168, which names wife Joan, son George executor, William, 

Edmond, not of age, and daughter Joan, which is clearly not this family.

Reiyiold and Matthew Marvin. 123 

shows that the maker had at least five grandchildren, he was 

of suitable age to have been the son-in-law of Rose some 

forty years earlier; he makes his "wife Marrion " executrix, 

and among his children we find John, Rose, and Joan, 

names of the father, mother and sister of Maryon Marvin. 

From these various facts, the conclusion reached seems very 

probable. 

He owned a "tenement at Hintlesham," where he died, 

and "leasehold lands" in the same Parish. The tenement 

he had conveyed conditionally to his son Thomas about two 

years before his death, and the leasehold is given him in the 

Will. The indenture there mentioned has not been found, 

but it evidently secured for Maryon and her husband a home 

in their old age ; the children of the oldest son, Richard, are 

remembered, but nothing is given him ; " the rest of his 

goods," after the death of his wife, are to be divided among 

the other children. From this it would seem that Richard, 

and probably his brothers, had already received their share of 

the lands. 

The Parish was a demesne of the Timperleys, and the 

chancel of the Church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, 

contains several ancient monuments of that family, which 

long held the rentals of most of the lands in its vicinity. 

The population is about 600, and the living was valued at 

^440 with a parsonage, in 1897, when the Rev. William 

Deane, M. A., had long been the Rector. 

If the proposed assignment is correct, we have the follow- 

ing as the names of the children of Thomas and Maryon 

—


(Marvin) Glamfelde ; 

of birth is unknown : 

with the exception of the first, the order 

66 i. Richard, 5 b. , called the " oldest son " by his father. 

He married , and had (i) Richard* (2) Edward, (3) 

Margaret, (4) Sara, (5) Judith. The order is that in which 

they are named by their grandfather. 

67 ii. John, b. . 

68 hi. Thomas, b. . 

69 iv. William, b. . 

70 v. Rose, b. . 

71 vi. Joan, b. ; unmarried in 1595. 

ABSTRACT OF THE WILL OF THOMAS GLAMEFEILD. 

4 th April, 1595. I Thomas Glamefeild of Hintlesham, in co. Suf- 

folk, husbandman, etc. 

To be buried in the Churchyard of Hintlesham. 

Whereas by indenture dated 28 June, 35 Eliz. [1593], I have assured 

to Thomas Glamefeilde my son my tenement at Hintlesham 

wherein I now dwell : to hold to him and his heirs to the use of myself 

for my life ; after my decease to the use of Marrion now my wife 

for her life and after her decease to the use of Thomas my son and 

his heirs : I now confirm the same. 

My said wife to have my horsemill for her life, with remainder to 

the said Thomas, to whom I give all my leasehold lands in Hin- 

tlesham. 

To Joan Glamefeilde, my daughter, my best cupboard. 

To Richard, Edward, Margaret, Sara, and Judith Glamefeilde, 

children of Richard Glamefeild, my oldest son, 6s. Sd. each. 

The rest of my goods to my said wife whom I make executrix : 

after her death the same to be divided amongst John, Thomas, 

William, Rose, and Joan, my children. 

Witnesses Edmund Glamefeild, John Glamefeild, Ric Robynson. 

Proved at Ipswich 22 May, 1595.


33 Agnes, 4 (John* John, 1 Robert, 1 

) sister of the preceding ; 

the date of her birth is not known, but it must have been not 

far from 1525-27. If we are correct in believing that Maryon 

married Thomas Glamfelde, Agnes was the wife of Chris- 

topher Alderman. 

On the Calendar of Suffolk Wills at Ipswich * I find the 

Will of a Christopher Alderman, a clothier of that town, 

dated 30 March, 1573, and proved 3 November following. 

On the Register of St. Nicholas' Church, Ipswich, is the 

record of the burial, 31 June (sic), 1573, of a Christopher 

Alderman. f This Christopher owned several estates in Ips- 

wich, one of which he occupied, and others were leased to 

tenants. The messuage in the Parish of St. Nicholas, which 

he gave to his son John, he describes as near the "fryers 

bridge;" this seems to have crossed the Gipping, not far 

from the Franciscan monastery of the " Grey Friars," and 

quite near the Church. J 

* Book XXIV (1572-3), fo. 429. 

t See the volume entitled " The Registers of St Nicholas, Ipswich, co. Suffolk. 

Baptisms, 1539-1709. Burials, 1551-1710. Marriages, 1539-1710. Transcribed by the 

Rev. Edward Cookson, M. A., by permission of the Vicar, the Rev. S. Green." This 

is Volume VII of the Issues of the London Parish Register Society, London, 1897. 

The Registers of St. Peter's Church from 1662 have been privately printed by Mr. 

Frederick Arthur Crisp, who remarks, " No earlier Register appears to be in exist- 

ence." Both volumes are in the Library of the N. E. Hist. Gen. Society, Boston. 

On the first of these are numerous entries relating to the Alderman family, and 

three or more on the second. The early entries of marriages are few, and most of the 

baptisms and burials are too late to help us ; but from these and Wills of which I have 

abstracts, it is evident that there were several branches of the family in Ipswich, in 

which the names Christopher and John constantly appear, and seemingly more or less 

closely related to that under notice, but there is nothing by which this can be defi- 

nitely shown. 

X See p. 28, supra.


As he does not allude to his wife, I judge she deceased 

before her husband. He mentions a brother John, who may 

be the John Alderman remembered by Rose,* and the chil- 

dren below ; of the daughters, as will be seen, one has the 

name of her mother and the other of her aunt, if the assign- 

ment is correct : 

72 i. Christopher, 5 b. before 1551, since he was one of the 

executors of his father's Will. 

73 ii. John, b. before 155 1, as he was also an executor. 

74 

iii. Agnes, b. . 

75 iv. Marian, perhaps the " dau. of Christopher," whose bap- 

tism is recorded 26 Nov., 1559, on St. Nicholas's Register. 

The burial of a Marion is recorded there 14 Oct., 1592, of 

whom I know no more. 

ABSTRACT OF THE WILL OF CHRISTOPHER ALDERMAN. 

30 th March, 1573. I, Christopher Alderman, of Ippeswich, in 

be buried in the 

co. Suffolk, clothier, " disquieted in bodie," . . . To 

Church or Churchyard of St. Nicholas, Ipswich. 

* Christopher Alderman, of Bentley, Suffolk, a Parish next south of Little Belstead, 

in his Will dated 2 March, 1595/6, proved 22 July, 1596, recorded at Ipswich, Book 

XXXVI (1596-97), fo. 265, mentions his father, John of Belstead (possibly, as sug- 

gested above, the John mentioned by Rose, and brother of her son-in-law), his wife 

Alice, and her children evidently by a previous husband, godson Richard, son of 

Christopher of Ipswich, " dier," but he makes no allusion to children of his own. The 

Will of a John Alderman, of St. Nicholas Parish, who died in 1588, names wife Jane, 

sons John and Christopher, daughter Katherine, brother Christopher and his children 

Christopher and Jone, a sister Ann, and other relatives, some of whom I find on the 

Parish Register ; but it seems useless to attempt to trace the connection between these 

and the husband of Agnes. I note that in Winthrop's History of New England there 

is mention of a John Alderman (i. 144) who was lost in the woods between Dorchester 

and Weymouth for a night or two in the autumn of 1634 ; he 

was then " about fifty 

years old." Savage thinks his wife was Jane; they were of Salem, 1636-57.

Reinold and Matthew Marvin \2J 

To my son Christopher, my tenement wherein I now dwell, in 

the Parish of St. Nicholas, Ipswich, near to the place sometime 

the Lord Curson's : to him and his heirs for ever ; also the reversion 

of the tenement in Erwarton, late my uncle's [not named] after the 

decease of my aunt [not named]. 

I give to John, my son, "my messuage" in the said town and 

Parish near the "fryers bridge," to him and his heirs for ever. 

To Marian, my daughter, my tenement wherein George Balles, 

smith, now dwells, with the tenement adjoining on the south side 

wherein Belman, shoemaker, lately dwelt ; also the three 

"Tenauntries in the back lane" by the Widow Osborne's, from her 

age of twenty-one : 

to her and her heirs for ever. 

To Agnes, my daughter, nine of my best " fine clothes culloure 

Azers " [i. e. blue], as they come from the "melle." 

If the said Agnes die, I will that of the stock given to her, ^5 

go to my sister's children [not named], ,£5 to my brother's children 

[not named], and ^"io to the hospital ; and the rest to my other 

children. 

My sons Christopher and John to be executors, and my brother 

John to be supervisor. 

Witnesses : 

John Alderman. 

Henry 

Hannam, Steven Grenewiche, W Randby and 

Proved 3 November, 1563. 

" Lord Curson's House" was a fine mansion in St. Peter's 

Parish, which was probably built as the residence of Thomas 

Manning, consecrated in 1525 by Cranmer as the first and 

last Suffragan Bishop of Ipswich. It was granted in the 

reign of Edward VI to the Bishop of Norwich. Later it 

was called the King's Hospital, and used for that purpose 

during the Dutch wars. The stately brick porch of this 

edifice was demolished in 1760, when the house became an


inn, known as "The Elephant and Castle." In 1818 it was 

used as a malt-kiln. 

The " hospital " mentioned was probably that known as 

St. Leonard's, which in 1818 was still standing and used as a 

farm-house, in connection with St. Christopher's Hospital in 

Ipswich. 

SIXTH GENERATION. 

48 John 6 (John? John* John? John? Roger 1 

) of Ramsey, 

"yeoman." His father lived and died in that Parish, and 

the son was doubtless born there, I judge about 1558. Aside 

from the reasons for this conclusion already given, we note 

further that he left four sons, all of whom were under age 

when their father's Will was made in 1594, — two by his first 

wife, and two by a subsequent marriage, — and of the latter, 

the elder could not have been much if any over eight years 

old when his father died. This Will has no date of probate, 

so that we cannot fix the exact time of his death, but it is 

dated 12 July, 1594, and states that he was "sicke in bodye." 

He appoints his "ffather-in-lawe Hierom Gylberd"* one of 

his executors, and gives him the " bringing up " of his sons, 

"John the elder and Edward." It would appear, therefore, 

that it was his first wife who was a daughter of that gentle- 

man. Her Christian name has not been learned ; she must 

have died about 1584, if an entry on the Great Bentley Reg- 

ister, to be mentioned below, refers to this John. 

* This name is often written Gilbert. " Hierom" is abbreviated from Hieronymus, 

the Latin form of his father's name, which is written Jherome on various records, 

though in a single instance he is called William.


Hierom, as he is called in the Will, or Hieron as the name 

is elsewhere spelled, was the son of Jherome Guylberd by 

his second wife, Jane Wingfield. Jherome was born at Clare 

Manor, Hintlesham, Suffolk, but later resided at Colchester, 

Essex, of which city he was a Burgess and Recorder, and 

died there 23 May, 1583. His first wife was Elizabeth , 

who appears to have been the mother of his daughter Mar- 

garet. By Jane Wingfield he had four sons, of whom the 

eldest was William, "docter of physick and phissition* to 

Queen Elizabeth," and to her successor, James I : he was 

born in 1540 and died unmarried, 30 November, 1603. He 

was a noted scientist, and has been called " the Newton of 

his time." He was the author of a treatise on magnetism 

and an early investigator of electricity. A monument to his 

memory is still standing in Trinity Church, Colchester,! 

bearing the Guylberd arms, which are "argent, on a chevron 

between three leopard's heads affrontee azure as many roses 

of the field."* 

Hieron was the second son, and Ambrose and George were 

younger, but the dates of birth have not been learned. The 

last two owned estates in Elmsted and Ardley, Essex. 

* " Essex Visitations, 1634, Pub. Harleian Soc," Vol. XIII, p. 405, which names two 

Williams among the sons ; the second is called George by other authorities. 

t Cooke's "Topographical Description of Essex," p. 64. See also Chancellor's 

" Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex," Plate Ixvii, for an engraving of this tomb ; 

and an account of the family will be found on pp. 202 et seq. 

X Described in modern terms, the device would be a shield with the field of silver 

or white (identical tinctures in heraldry) , with a blue chevron between three leopard's 

faces, two above and one below, of the same color ; on the chevron are three white 

roses; heraldic "roses" are rather rosettes of five lobes, enclosing smaller rosettes on 

their centres, and five barbs or points, one between each pair of lobes, but no leaves.

130 


Jane, the wife of Jherome Guylberd, was the elder daughter 

of Robert Wingfield of Brantham Hall, Suffolk ; her mother 

was a daughter of Sir Thomas Pargiter,* Kt., of London, by 

his wife Anne Talmache, who was the daughter of "John 

Talmache, descended from a baronial family of prominence 

in the time of Stephen, and having a seat at Bentley, Suf- 

folk, in the reign of Edward I. The mother of Anne was a 

daughter of Lowth, of Sawtrey, co. Hunt."f 

Robert was the son and heir of Sir Humfrey Wingfield, 

of Brantham and Letherington (or Letheringham), Kt, by 

his wife Mrs. Anne Edgar, the daughter of Simon Wiseman, 

of Brantham, Suffolk, and widow of Sergeant Gregory Edgar. 

Robert had a son John, who married Elizabeth Gillgat or 

Gillyat, a family name mentioned in the Will of John Marvin 

(41), a cousin of John (48), printed above.J 

Sir Humfrey was the twelfth son of Sir John Wingfield 

and Elizabeth Fitz Lewes, whose mother was Lady Anne 

Montague, a daughter of the Earl of Salisbury. According 

to the Visitations of Huntingdonshire,! Sir Humfrey was 

* " Visitations of Suffolk ; edited by Walter C. Metcalfe, F. S. A.," Exeter, England, 

1882, calls him " Sir Thomas " on p. 70, and " Sir John Pargeter " on p. 176, but in its 

Notanda, p. 214, says it is " clear " that the latter was meant for Sir Thomas. " The 

Visitation of Huntingdonshire, 1613" (Camden Society, 1849), p. 130, says Sir Thomas 

was Lord Mayor of London, and gives some particulars of the family not found in the 

Suffolk Visitations. 

t See Shoberl, p. 220. "Visitations of Suffolk " gives (p. 70) the pedigree of Anne 

and the Talmache arms. For the Wingfield arms, which have fourteen quarterings, 

see the same, p. 79. 

% See pp. 116 and 118, supra. 

§ Visitations of Huntingdonshire as cited, p. 130. In Suffolk Visitations, quoted 

above, will be found the pedigrees of several branches of the Wingfields, but there is

Reinold and Matthew Marvin 1 3 1 

"Attourney of Henry VIII, and for his great learning, 24 H. 

8, [i. e. 1533] was Prolocutor in the Parliament House." 

There seems to be some confusion between the accounts of 

this gentleman and his nephew Sir Anthony, son and heir of 

Sir John, the eldest brother of Sir Humfrey, for I find that 

Shoberl* says that Anthony was a Knight of the Garter, and 

was appointed to assist the executors of the Will of Henry 

VIII, for which service the King bequeathed him a legacy of 

^200. He was also "Captain of the Guard," Vice Chamber- 

lain, and a member of the King's Privy Council. This state- 

ment would seem to apply with greater probability to the 

" Attourney " of the King, than to his nephew, if the account 

in the Visitations of Huntingdon is to be accepted. Either 

Humfrey or his nephew Anthony, had an elegant residence in 

Ipswich, portions of which were still remaining in 1818, when 

it had become a public house called " The Tankard," in which 

the family arms could be seen preserved among the decora- 

tions of one of the rooms. 

The name of the second wife of John Marvin does not 

appear in his Will ; the Parish Register of St. Mary's, Great 

Bentley, has the record of the marriage, 30 August, 1585, 

of a John Marvin to Margaret Swallow, and it may be that 

it was this John.f I have found numerous allusions to mem- 

no reference to his having been Speaker, etc., and his name does not appear in the list 

of Speakers in Beatson's "Political Index." 

* See Shoberl's Suffolk, as cited, p. 256. 

t She cannot be the Margaret, wife of John of Little Oakley, since he died five 

months previously, if the date of marriage has been correctly transcribed from the 

Great Bentley Register by Mr. Watkins, which I have no reason to doubt.

132 


bers of this family, who resided in this vicinity at that period, 

but have been unable to connect them with Margaret. It is 

however equally probable, with our present knowledge, that 

the John Marvin who married Margaret Swallow was John 

(50) son of Roger, inasmuch as there is nothing in the Will 

to show the name of the second wife of John (48) as already 

stated. The Ramsey Registers, as has been mentioned, are 

not old enough to help us. I presume the "cossen " John 

and the witness of the Will were identical, and that he was 

the son of Roger. 

Among the estates disposed of by John in his Will, we 

notice that he gives "ffurssen Marshe," which he had in- 

herited from his father, and land called " Cratchers, lyenge in 

Ramsaye and Dovercort," to his son Edward. His eldest 

son John was to have the " gould ringe with the sealle," and 

Edward "one other gould ringe with a stone;" one of these 

may be that which his father left him.* One of his execu- 

tors was " Mr. Jonas Gouldingham." There was an ancient 

and prominent Ipswich family of this name, having a seat 

at Belstead, Suffolk,! a branch of which resided at Ramsey, 

and one of them, perhaps the executor, was long remembered 

for his aid in rebuilding the chancel of St. Michael's, Ram- 

sey, in 1597. 

* See pp. 89 and 94. 

For ffursen or Fryreson Marsh, see p. 88. 

t See Visitations of Suffolk (1561), p. 35, which mentions a Jonas who was a son of 

Christopher of Belstead, Suffolk, and who may be this gentleman. In 1560 the Belstead 

manor was sold to a Blosse, who was a wealthy clothier of Ipswich (see 24, p. 44 

supra) ; early in the eighteenth century an heiress of Blosse sold it to the Harlands. 

The descendants of Blosse of Ipswich and Belstead Hall are given in the Suffolk Visi- 

tations (1612) p. 114.


By his first wife, Guylberd, John had 

76 i. John, 7 "the elder," b. ? about 1582. 

77 

ii. Edward, b. ? about 1584. 

By his second wife [? possibly Margaret Swallow], his chil- 

dren were : 

— 

78 iii. John, "the younger," b. ? about 1586. 

79 iv. Edmund, b. ? about 1588. 

Of these children I have learned nothing. His Will is 

dated 12 July, 1594; there is no record to show the time of 

probate : he was " sicke in bodye " when it was drawn, but 

the date of his death has not been found. There is nothing 

to identify the "John Marven " who witnessed it ; as already 

stated, I think the " Cousin John " named in the Will was 

the son of Roger (37), and most probably he was the witness. 

"John of Okelye Parva," whom I have thought might be 

the son of Reinold,* had long been dead ; if this assignment 

is not correct, the witness may have been the son of Reinold, 

who was also a cousin. 

WILL OF JOHN MARVINE OF RAMSAYE.f 

3fa tfce name of

134 

Tke English Ancestry of 

Ramsaye in the Countye of Essex yeoman beinge sicke in bodye 

but of good & perfytt Remembrance thankes be to Almightie god 

Doe ordaine & make this my last will & Testament in mannor & 

fforme ffolowinge 

ffirste I Commyte my Sowle into the truition of almyghtie god 

my Creator savioure & Redemer And my bodye to be buryed in the 

parish Chirtch of Ramsaye aforesaid 

And as touchinge my worldly Landes & Goodes I geve & disposse 

them in manner & forme ffolowing Item I geve unto the poore 

people of the parish of Ramsaye the summe of xl s. to be distrib- 

uted by y e Churtch wardens of the said parish Item I geve unto 

my sonne John Marvine the elder & to his heires All that my mes- 

wage wharein I nowe dwell with all the Landes Thareunto belong- 

inge both ffree & Copye Together with my twoe acres of wood lyenge 

in Sturwood Item I geve to Edward Marvine my Sunne and to his 

heires for ever my Tenement in the said Towen of Ramsaye whare- 

in Thomas Rumbould doeth nowe dwell with y e Landes thareunto 

belonginge boeth ffree & Coppye with a parcell of Lande with the 

Bearne thareon standinge called Cratchers lyenge in Ramsaye & 

Dovercort Also I geve unto the said Edward Marvine my Sunne 

& to his heires for ever all that my Marsh called ffurssen Marsh 

lyenge in Ramsaye & Dovercort aforesaid 

Item I geve unto my said sunns John the elder & Edward to 

eyther of them xx Ji of Lawfull money to be payed them at thare 

severall ages of xxj yeares 

Item I geve unto John Marvine my sunne the yonger the summe 

of one Hundred poundes of lawfull money of England to be payed 

to him at his age of xxj tie yeares Allso I geve unto Edmonde Mar- 

vine my sunne one Hundred poundes of Lawfull money of England 

to be payed unto the said Edmonde at his age of xxj yeares And 

yf it shall happen eyther of my said Sunnes John the yonger or 

Edmond to departe this world before thaye or eyther of them doe 

accumplish thare severall ages of xxj tie yeares then I will that his


or thare portion shalbe equally devided amongest the rest of my 

Children w ch shalbe then lyvinge part and part lyke 

Item I will that yf Edward Marvine my Sunne shall happen to 

depart this world withowt heires of his Bodye Lawfullye begotten 

or before he cumith to the age of xxj tie yeares Then I will that my 

said Tenement with the landes thareunto belonginge together w th 

the said parcell of Land Called Cratches shall goe & discende unto 

my sunne John the yonger & to his heires for ever And then I 

will that my said Marsh called ffurssen Marsh shall discende & 

goe unto my sunne Edmonde Marvine & to his heires for ever 

Item I will that yf John Marvine my Sunne the elder doe depart 

this worlde before he doe accumplish his age of xxj tie yeares Then 

I will that Edwarde Marvine my sunne shall have my said meswage 

w th all the Landes thareunto belonginge as thaye are before by me 

geven to my sunne John the elder to have & to houlde unto my 

said sunne Edward & to his heires for ever uppon Condicion he the 

said Edward his heires or assignes shall pave owt of the said mes- 

wage & Landes to eyther of his Bretheren John & Edmonde to 

eyther of them one Annuite of ffyve poundes by the yeare to be 

payed to them everie haulfe yeare duringe thare naturall lyves 

Item my will & true meaninge is that such person or persons a 

shall have the bringinge up of my twoe Sunnes John the elder & 

Edwarde shall have the Custody & possession of all the meswage 

Landes & Tenementes before by me geven to them tell thaye cume 

to thare severall ages of xx tie yeares And then I will that he or 

thaye thare Executors or Assignes shall yeald a true accounte unto 

eyther of my said sunnes of the proffyttes of thare Landes And 

uppon the paym 4 

of the said proffyttes to my said sunnes if shalbe 

lawfull for him or them to deducke owt of the said proffyttes the 

summe of xxiiij 1 ' by the yeare for finding & bringinge up of my said 

ffower Children That is to save I will thare shal be yearlye allowed 

for the bringing up of my sunne John the elder & Edward vj'i a 

pece by the yeare till thaye cume to thare ages of xxj tie yeares

136 


And lykewyssse vj lj a pece by the yeare for the bringinge up my 

twoo yonger sunns John & Edmonde tell thaye cume to thare sev- 

erall ages of xiiij yeares 

Item I will that my Executors or the survivor of them or the Ex- 

ecutors of them or the survivor of them shall geve a true accounte 

unto my twoe yonger suns of the proffyttes of thare severall por- 

tions before by me geven to them when thaye cume to thare severall 

ages of xxj yeares 

Item I geve to my Sunne John the elder my gould ringe with the 

sealle And to my sunne Edward I geve one other gould ringe with 

a stone 

Item I geve to everye of my Godchildren w ch be nowe lyvinge 

iijj". \\\)d. a pece 

Item I geve to my Cossen Annys Marvine the wyffe of Reynould 

Marvine the summe of xs. Item I geve to my Cossen John Mar- 

vine xs. 

Item I geve to John Layton xs. And to my Grandmother xs. 

Item I geve to William Walter my sarvante xs. & to the rest of 

my howssould sarvantes vs. a pece Item I geve to Elizabeth purkas 

vs. 

Item I geve to my ffather in lawe Hierom Gylberd xx.r. & to my 

mother xx.r. 

All the rest of my goodes & Chattalls whatsoever not before by 

me geven nor bequeathed my Debtes beinge payed & my legacies 

& ffunneralles discharged I will shal be equallye devyded betwene 

my ffower Children part & part lyke 

Item I will that my ffather in lawe Hierom Gylberd shall have 

the bringinge up of my twoe sunnes John the elder & Edward & 

the Custodye of thare Landes tell thaye cume to thare severall ages 

of xxjtie yeares doinge no strip nor waste in nor uppon anye of the 

Landes before by me geven And to kepe my said howsses in Rep- 

arations he to be allowed for the Reparations owt of the proffyttes 

of the said howssen

Reinold and Matthetv Marvin 137 

And I ordaine nomynate & appointe the said Hierom Gylberd & 

my Lovinge ffreend M r Jonas Gouldingham to be my Executors 

And my lovinge ffreend Edward Bredge to be my supervysor And 

I geve to my said Executors for thare paynes herein to be taken to 

eyther of them xlr. and to my Supervysor vj.r. v\\\d Thes being 

wyttness 

In the presence of us 

John Marven & John Layton 

[Date of Probate not given.] 

By me John Marvin 

The reference to the " twoe acres of wood lyenge in Stur- 

wood " may indicate that his brother Robert (who was ap- 

parently given that property by his father) died young ; 

as in 

case of Robert's death before he became of age, this was to 

pass to John.* 

53 Edward, 6 {Edward? Reinold? John? John, 2 Roger, 1 

) who 

calls himself " of Thorington " in his Will, was the son of 

Edward and Margaret Marvin, of Ramsey ; 

he is believed, 

from his name and as first mentioned in his father's Will, to 

have been the eldest. His father and grandfather were of 

Ramsey, and Edward was probably born in that Parish about 

1 581, possibly a little earlier. The family removed to Great 

Bentley about 1593, and there he married, 12 August, 1603, 

" Bettris " [Beatrice], whose surname on the Register of St. 

Mary's is illegible. She survived him, but the date of her 

death I have not learned. 

From his father, Edward inherited an estate in Wrabness 

and Wix. That portion lying in Wix was held of the Manor 

* See pp. 94, 95, supra.


of Park Hall,* and that in Wrabness, of "Dembole's" or 

Denball's, as it is more frequently written.! 

After a careful study of the maps of Tendring Hundred, 

found in the histories by Morant, Wright and others, which 

agree very closely in detail, and of the language of the Will 

which describes the boundaries of this property, I feel con- 

fident that we can fix the location of this estate almost 

exactly. 

The highway which leads westward from Harwich through 

Ramsey crosses Ramsey Bridge and passes through the west- 

ern portion of the Parish, there called " Ramsey Street." It 

then divides, and one branch turns south and south-westerly, 

passing Ramsey Hall,— at the time we are considering held 

by John Herde,— and continues through Great Oakley and 

Little Bentley westward. The other branch turns directly 

to the north for a short distance, passing Roydon Hall, the 

manor of the Lucases,^ and then westward through Wrab- 

ness and Bradfield, with Wix on the south. Edward's estate 

must have bordered on the highway just at the point where, 

after turning northward, it bends again to the west. The 

boundary line of the two Parishes evidently ran through this 

estate, for his Will shows that it was necessary that his 

daughter should own the Wrabness land in conjunction with 

that in Wix, "without the which piteles [parcels] she cold not 

a had a waie too an part of the land lieing in Wix." On the 

west of this was the farm called Spennele's ; the Wrabness 

land extended to the " hoye waie leading from Spenneles to 

* See p. 109, supra. f See p. 76, supra. % See p. 11, supra.

/

TENDRING-HUNDRED, ESSEX, AND VICINITY. 

I. Farm-lands of Rynalde Marvin, Si\, on this peninsula in 1554. 2. Location of his house in Wrabness, bequeathed to 

his eldest son, the father of Reinold and Matthew. 3. " Ramsey Street." 4. Ramsey Bridge, shown bylines crossing the 

river. 5. Estate and home of Reinold Marvin, the younger, was in this vicinity. 6. Parish where Reinold and Matthew- 

were christened and where their father died. 7. Parish where their elder brother, Edward, died. The roads connecting 

these Parishes are shown on the map in " Morant's Essex," on that in 

Directories. 

•• Wright's History of Essex," and in the Post Office


Ramse on the north," and thence to " the land longing to my 

houes .... along against the hooy waie on the east." It was 

therefore bounded by the highway on both north and east. 

The north and westerly bend in the road described above 

satisfies these various conditions, and I think justifies the 

conclusion reached. It would seem that Edward resided 

here after his marriage, before removing to Thorington. He 

bequeathed this property to his daughter Susan. 

In addition to his estate in Wrabness and Wix, Edward 

owned lands in Great Bentley (which he bought of his brother 

Richard). What he held in Thorington, where he died in 

the winter of 1622/3, does not appear. His Will is dated 

30 December, but the year was omitted either on the original 

or the copy which is on file at Somerset House, London ; the 

date of probate, however, shows that he must have deceased 

early in 1623. 

Thorington is southwest of Great Bentley, and, like the 

other Essex Parishes where the Marvins resided, is in Ten- 

dring Hundred. The village stands on a commanding emi- 

nence ; its name, says Morant, was formerly spelled in various 

ways — Thoriton, Thureton, Toriton, etc. — and was derived 

from Thor, the name of the old Saxon deity, and the terminal 

signifying a meadow or town, — i. e. f "Trior's town." 

Thorington Hall, the Manor, says the same author, stands 

on the north-west of the Church, which is dedicated to St. 

Mary Magdalene. 

The latter is a building in the transition style, and con- 

sists of a chancel and nave with south porch and tower, and

140 


a north aisle which extended the length of the Church and 

was leaded, while the body was tiled. In the tower, which 

is built of flints and stone, with pinnacles, and embattled, 

hang five bells. John Deth, who died 20 April, 1477, was a 

great benefactor to this Parish, and in his time the Church 

was either rebuilt or repaired ; " he lies buried in the belfry, 

with an epitaph." The whole edifice was restored in 1866. 

In the north aisle of the chancel are the arms of Mont- 

chesney* and those of Valence.f The Church also contains 

a " brass " in memory of John Clare and his wife, but their 

effigies have been removed. A prominent family of this 

name had a seat at Great Bentley. The Rectory has been 

always appendant to the Manor, and in addition to an orchard 

and garden, it has fifty-eight acres of glebe. Since 1531 St. 

John's College, Cambridge, has held the presentation, which 

is said to have been the gift of Hugh Ashton to that cor- 

poration. The living is valued at ,£440 and the parsonage. 

The Parish Register begins in 1553, but I have been unable 

to have it searched. 

Among the Rectors of St. Mary's were the Rev. Richard 

Alvey, the distinguished Master of the Temple, who was at 

Thorington 1538-54, and was also a Canon of Westminster; 

in the latter year he was deprived of the living by Queen 

* These are : Two 

bars gules and vaire. " Gules " is the heraldic name for red, and 

the colors of vaire are argent and azure, i. e. white and blue. 

t Their blazon is : Barry of ten, argent and azure, ten martlets gules, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1. 

Or, in ordinary parlance, ten horizontal stripes of white and blue alternating; on the 

white stripes are red birds resembling swallows, but without feet, — three on the upper, 

two on the next three, and one on the lowest.

Reinold and Matthew Marvin. 14 l 

Mary, but was restored to his canonry by Elizabeth and re- 

turned to Thorington in 1565, where he remained until 1571 ; 

he died in 1584. Bishop Grindall appointed William Baylie, 

A. M., to succeed him 9 June, 1585 ; Brian Taylor, A. M., 

followed, 3 April, 1589, remaining until his death. Daniel 

Monsey, S. T. B., succeeded in 1610, and on his death Rich- 

ard Low, S. T. B., took the living, 20 April, 1620, and was 

there when Edward died. At the present time the neighbor- 

ing Parish of Frating is united with Thorington ; the Rev. 

Robert B. Mayor, B. D., Rector, and the Rev. Henry J. W. 

Karslake, B. D., his Curate, were officiating in 1895. 

The only children of Edward and Beatrice Marvin known 

to us are those named in his Will : — 

80 i. Edward, 7 b. . 

81 ii. Susan, b. . 

These children were evidently under age at his death, as 

appears from the record of his marriage at St. Mary's, Great 

Bentley. 

WILL OF EDWARD MARVEN.* 

3fn tfce name of (Soto ftmen the 30 th daie of Dessember I Edward 

Marven of Thorington in the Cowntie of Essex and in the dyesses 

of London being hoi of mind and in good Remembrance doe make 

& ordain this my laste will and testament in mannor and form fol- 

lowing 

ffirst and above all I cummet and beqveaf my sovel into the 

handes of almitie god by the merites of Jesus Christ and my body 

to be beried in the Church yeard of Thorington 

Recorded at Somerset House, London, — Commissary Court of London (Essex 

and Herts), 1622-3, No. 43.

142 


Item I givef and beqveaf vnto the poor people of Thoring [sic] 

the sum of x s to be paied vnto them by my executor the daie of my 

bereyall 

Item I giff vnto Bettres al my housses and Landes ling in 

Wrabnes Wex and bentley Turm of her naterall leyf to bring vp 

my Cheldren and to paie mey dettes and the finne for my Sunnes 

for the house & land I haf Boute at bentley when the Coorte com 

which hoves and land I havef not it take up I saie to bring up my 

Cheldren whil they com to the eage of xxj yeares and to Cepe al 

my housses in good & sufficient Reaprations, and that she shall 

suffer no manner of streep nor wast to be mad of Tember or wood 

or aney other waie of aney the said Landes 

Item I Gief unto Susan my Dauter all my lande lienge in wex 

& too other piteles lieng in Wrabnes the one of them by estimation 

an aker the other fouer akers mor or les withoute the which piteles 

she cold not a had awaie too an parte of the land lieng in wex the 

which too piteles doo butt all upon the land called the Copey land 

and parte of the land that leyeth in wex next long northe on the 

South* & the other parte of the land lieng in wex next the ffarem 

called spennales on the waste & the hoye waie leading from spen- 

neles to Ramse on the north and the land longing to my houes 

which is thre piteles on adjoyneng on to another from the houes 

along against the hooy waie on the east the which land lieng in 

wex dooe hould of the manner of Parke Hall & doe Rente to the 

* This expression seems at first to be confusing, but remembering that Wrabness lies 

north-east of Wix, I understand the language to mean that the two parcels in Wrab- 

ness, containing five acres, were ' next along the north of the copy-land,' part of 

which on the south of the Wrabness parcels, was in Wix; it adjoined the easterly 

portion of Edward's estate, since it extended in that direction to the ' lands belonging 

; 

to his house ' these were in three parcels, one being the homestead as we should call 

it, and were bounded easterly by the highway where it turns northward, as described 

in the text. From the ' house lands ' the five acres in Wrabness extended westward 

along the highway after it turned, having the road on the north, and also beyond the 

copy-lands to Spennele's, the farm which adjoined the estate on the west.


lord xvj d the yeare and the too piteles that lieth in Wrabnes 

houldeth of the manner of Demboles & Rente to the Lord xx d the 

yeare 

Item I Gif to Edward my sunn all my housses and land except 

that befor bequafed lieng and being in Wrabnes both free and 

copey after myn and his mothers desseas to him & his eighers for 

ever Item I gif unto the fornamed Edward my house and land 

leying in Bentley which I boute of my Brother Richerd after myn 

and his mothers dessease to him and his eighers for ever Item I 

Givef to the afornamed Edward my sunn on hundred pound of good 

and lawful money of England to bee paied to him by my executor 

when he doo cum to the eage of 21 th yeares Item I will that my 

said sunn shal be brought up to learn Ingtell [sic] he can write & 

red Both prented and wretten hand well & sifer and Caste acounte 

well 

Item I gif to Edwar my Sunn the best bedstadel in the parler 

with the Best fetherbed bolster with 2 pellowes on paier of blan- 

ketes on paier of shettes of the beste & the beste Coverlet with the 

hangenges and Curtaines thearto belonging and also the Joyned 

tabel with the formes and stooles thearto belonging that stand in 

the parler after myn & his mothers dessease 

Also I gif vnto Seusan my daughter the Bedstadel on the cham- 

ber abouef the parler that I doo eues to ley in and the beste 

fetherbed saf that I hauef given alredy with a bouster pellowes & 

blanketes shettes and a coverlet of the best and the Joyned tabell 

that stand in the hall and the forme thearto belonging after myn 

and her mothers dessease Item I gif to my dauter Seusan thre 

skor pound of good and lawful money of England to be paied to her 

by my Executor at the eage of twentie yeares 

Item I will that if it shal happen that either my sunne or dauter 

shall dye without eieres of thear bodies lawfully begotten then the 

one to be the others eigher If it shal hapen that both my sunn & 

my daughter to dey withoute Esseu of thear bodies lawfulley begot-

144 


ten then I wil & my mind is that land which I hauef bought of my 

Brother Recherd which lyeth in much Bentley that thos thre 

Cheldren which my brother Recherd hauef now leveng shal haf 

that land to be equally devided betwext them if that thay be then 

leving 

Item I will that if both my sunn and my dauter shal happen to 

dey withoute Esseu as is aforesaid that Then my hous & land leying 

in Wrabnes and Wex both fre and Coppey to be soulde to the full 

valey thearof By too of myn awen brothers if thay be then aleief If 

thar be non of them aleyef then by too of the next of the Ken and 

the money to be equalley devided bettwen such & somaney of my 

Brothers Thamase & Robert & Reannold & Mathey so maney of 

thear Children as shal be then livinge 

Item I giuef to aves precke my apprentes fouer pound of lawful 

money of England in leaue of the goodes that I did adminester to 

her eues which was her fathers to be paid to her when she shal cum 

to the eagee of xxj yeares by myn Executor 

Item I gif to annes Brown my maid if she doe dwel with me tell 

my desseas Thirteen shellenges and fouer pence to be paied by my 

Executor unto her within on halef yeare after my deseas 

Item I giuef to Edward Reckerd my servante six shellinge and 

eight pence if he doo dwell with me so longe too be paied by my 

Executor within on halef year after my bereyall 

Item I giuef unto all the Rest of my servantes so maney as shall 

dwell with me at my desseas thre shellenges & fouer pence a pece 

to be paied by myn Executor within on qurter of a year after my 

Bereyall 

Item I will that if my wif shal happen for to marrey again then 

I will that she shal be bound befor that she doo marrey unto my 

Brother Thomas Marven & my Brother Rechard Marven for my 

Cheldrens stocke and legesey with two Indifferent parties in Dobell 

the paiement for the performinge of it according to my will or else 

if she Refeues too put in Bond for the performaunce of it to Deliver


the said stocke & legersey befor that she doe marrey into the 

handes of my Brother Recherd marven and my brother Reannold 

marven and thay to put the said stock of legersey oute to the beste 

advantage for my Cheldren tell they doo Cum too eage and for 

thear paines I will thay shal hafe 20 s a year apes tuerdes thear 

paines out of the benneyfet of it so longe as thay shal be trobeled 

with that besenes 

Item I make & ordain to this my will Bettres my wif Soil execu- 

tor and I doe make and ordain Thomas marven my Brother to be 

my superviser to se my will fulfeled and I doo giuef him for his 

paines 3 1 ' to be paied to him by my executor within on qurter of a 

year after my bereyall 

Al the Reste of my goodes and Chattels vnbequeaved I doo 

giuef to bettres my wif & she to paie my dettes 

In witnes whereof I hauef sett my hand to this my last will and 

testament in the presentes of 

his 

Edward r Recherd By me Edward Marven 

marks 

his 

Stephen A Leckelbere 

marke 

Proved at Colchester 1 March 1622/3 by the executrix 

Dembole's or Denball's Manor, as it is called by Morant, 

was in Wrabness.* Park Hall, sometimes called Wix Manor, 

was in Wix.f 

54 Thomas, 8 {Edward? Reinold* John, 3 11 

John, 

Roger, 1 

) 

brother of the preceding ; whether he was born in Ramsey, 

where his father owned " a tenemente and cartaine Landes," 

which he gave conditionally to Thomas and confirmed the 

* See p. 76 supra. t P. 109 supra.

146 


gift in his Will, or perhaps more probably in Wrabness, 

where his father also owned a house, the location of which 

we have endeavored to identify above, — it is impossible to 

say with our present knowledge ; but it must have been in 

one of these, since his birth is not recorded either at Wix 

or Great Bentley.* 

The fact that he is the second child named in his father's 

Will, and that he is made " Superviser " both by his father 

and his brother Edward, seems to indicate that Thomas 

was one of the older sons ; we have therefore assigned the 

year 1583 as the conjectural date of his birth. As Rob- 

ert, the fourth brother named, was married in 1610, the date 

cannot be far astray, if the conclusions above are justified. 

He was living in 1622 (when Edward died), but nothing is 

known of his family or his home. 

There was a Thomas Marvyn in Newbury, Mass., who re- 

ceived a grant of land in that town 27 April, 1648. " At a 

meeting of the Town of Newbury There was granted to 

Thomas Marvyn two akers of land lying near the new pond 

on the back side of Mr. Nicholas Noyes his house lott, at 

the new towne, for encouragement to kill wolves, and that he 

shall endeavour to his utmost to catch them."f He is prob- 

ably the Thomas Marvyn who died in that town 28 Novem- 

ber, 165 i.J He was therefore contemporary with Reinold 

and Matthew, and may have been their brother. 

* As mentioned on p. no, the Wrabness and Ramsey Registers are not old enough 

to help us. 

t Coffin's History of Newbury, p. 49. J Ibid., p. 309.

55 Richard, 6 


(Edward, 6 Remold* John,* John? Roger?) 

brother of the preceding, was born about 1585 ; the remarks 

as to the birthplace of Thomas apply to Richard ; it may be 

added that the house which contained the chamber where his 

brother "used to lie" must have been in the Parish of Wrab- 

ness, and very near the boundary line of Wix, as has been 

shown above, since we should expect, had it been in the 

latter Parish, to find some entries relating to the family on 

its Register, but there are none. He received from his 

father a legacy of five pounds and a tenement with lands 

called " Moye House,"* and he also owned lands in Great 

Bentley, which he sold to his brother Edward, as appears by 

the Will of the latter. 

He married in St. Mary's Church, Great Bentley, 1 No- 

vember, 16 10, Suzin [Susan] Loosk (the name is somewhat 

indistinct on the Register), but as we find no entry of the 

birth of any children recorded there until some years later, 

it is probable that his home was not in that Parish. Richard 

and Susan had three children living in 1623, as appears by 

the Will of Edward. f Two of these are recorded at Great 

Bentley, namely : 

82 i. Richard, 7 bap. 1 Nov., 16 16, at St. Mary's Church. 

83 

84 

ii. John, bap. 27 Oct., 1618, at St. Mary's Church. 

iii. [name unknown]. Living in 1623. 

56 Robert, 6 (Edward? Reinold? John? John? Roger?) 

brother of the preceding, and thought to be the fourth son, 

* See p. 106 supra. f See p. 144 supra.

148 


was probably born about 1587. The same uncertainty as 

to his birthplace exists that has been mentioned above ; 

he doubtless came to Great Bentley as a child with his 

father, and made his home there, for the Parish Register 

of St. Mary's has the following entry : " Robert Marvin and 

Susan Core [name not clear on the record] single-folk " were 

married 8 November, 1616, and had 

85 Robert, 7 bap. 14 Jan., 1618, at St. Mary's. 

In 1616 he inherited his father's free lands in Frating, 

which were then leased to Richard Barnes, but he evidently 

resided in Great Bentley for some years afterwards. It may 

be that his son Robert (85) settled on Long Island. [See 

Appendix.] 

58 Reinold, 6 {Edward? Reinold? John? John? Roger?) son 

of Edward and Margaret Marvin, was baptized in St. Mary's 

Church, Great Bentley, 7 June, 1593, on the same day 

with his brother John. Of the latter son nothing more is 

known, and as he is not mentioned in his father's Will, it 

is supposed he died young. Reinold resided in his native 

Parish until shortly before he sailed for New England, for 

we find his estate charged with the " Ship Money tax " in 

1637,* and he appears in Hartford in 1638, whither he fol- 

* In the printed volume entitled "Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Charles I, 

1637," pp. 177-8, is an account of a manuscript volume (CCCLVIII) in the Public 

Record Office, of 164 pages, entitled " Essex Ship Money," of which it is said: " The 

money raised in Essex was for fitting out a ship of 800 tons, appointed by his Majesty 

to be ready at Portsmouth, 1 March, 1636/7. The account states the name of every 

inhabitant in every Parish in the County assesssed to the tax, and the amount with


lowed his younger brother Matthew, who had gone thither 

three years earlier. The record of Reinold's departure for 

New England has not been found, but many emigrants 

sailed from Ipswich, and it is quite likely that he took pas- 

sage thence, being nearer than London. His father be- 

queathed to him various " Landes, medowes, woodes and 

pasters, called Moysses." From the amount that Reinold 

was directed to pay to his mother from his father's estate, as 

compared with what we know was paid for rentals of land in 

that neighborhood, these lands must have been either quite 

extensive or very productive. With his brothers Robert 

and Matthew, and his sister Elizabeth, he was also made a 

residuary legatee in his father's Will. 

which he was charged." It was " returned to the Council in accordance with an order 

of the King in Council, made 23 April, 1637, upon occasion of a complaint then ex- 

hibited against the proceedings of the sheriff." In this document, under " Tendringe 

Hundred, Bentley Magna," it appears that " Reynold Maruen " of that Parish, paid in 

1636 two shillings and sixpence as his proportionate tax. In the neighboring Hundred 

of Leyden, one Edward Merven, of Pateswicke, paid the same year one shilling, four- 

pence; to which branch of the family, if any, the latter belonged, I have not dis- 

covered. 

I have been unable to find a copy of this manuscript in America, but as it is well 

known that a large proportion of the early New England settlers came from Essex, 

and as this is a carefully prepared official list of "every inhabitant . . . . assessed" in 

that County, there can be little doubt that, if it could be transcribed and published, it 

would be a most valuable aid to genealogical research, and enable us to ascertain the 

English homes of many families, the exact location of which is now unknown. Green, 

in his History of the English People (iii: 180), remarks that the imposition of this 

tax gave a fresh impulse to the emigration to New England, which had somewhat fallen 

off, and that those who went, as a result of this illegal and tyrannous order, were 

largely composed of the more prosperous classes, " men of blood and fortune." A 

longing for unrestricted religious privileges was the incentive which brought many of 

the earlier settlers across the ocean, while of those who came after 1635, a large num- 

ber were led by the desire for greater civic freedom than could be enjoyed under the 

exactions of King Charles I and his advisers.

150 


He married about 16 17, and in some other Parish (as there 

is no record of it on St. Mary's Register), Marie or Mary 

(the name is spelled in both ways on the record), who 

accompanied him to New England, where she is believed to 

have died in the spring or summer of 1661, for in September 

of that year Nicholas Jennings, of Saybrook, Conn., was 

charged with causing the death of Mary, wife of Reinold 

Marvin of Lyme, by witchcraft.* Reinold died at Lyme, 

Conn., between 23 May, 1662 (the date of his Will), and 28 

October following, the date of the Inventory. 

In Hartford, Conn., he had a lot at the north end of the 

" West Field ; " he very soon removed to Farmington, where 

he owned a " prominent home-lot of five acres, on the west 

side of the Main street;" thence he removed to Saybrook 

and Lyme, the former town on the west and the latter on 

the east side of the mouth of the Connecticut River. In 

Lyme, where he was made a Freeman 20 May, 1658,! he 

owned a very large landed estate, much of which remains in 

the hands of his descendants at the present time, though 

considerable portions have passed out of the name by the 

marriage of daughters. By the inventory it appears that his 

estate was valued at ^800 — a large property for the period 

— and included lands on both sides of the river. 

The children of Reinold and Mary Marvin, recorded at 

Great Bentley, were : 

— 

* For some account of the witchcraft matter see " Family Histories and Genealo- 

gies," Vol. Ill, pp. 108, 109. 

f 

Colonial Records of Connecticut, i : 315.


86 i. William, 7 bap. 4 Nov., 1618. 

87 

ii. Elizabeth, bap. 19 April, 1621. 

88 iii. Sara, bap. 22 July, 1629. 

89 iv. Reinold, " son of Reynold and Marie Marvin, was christened 

20 Dec, 163 1." (Language of Parish record.) He 

came to New England with his father and was "Lieutenant 

Reinold," of the "Train-band " of Lyme, Conn., and a mem- 

ber of the Colonial Legislature.* 

90 v. Mary, " daughter of Reynold and Mary Marvin, was 

christened 23 Oct., 1636." (Ibid.) She married, about 1656, 

William Waller, who had previously resided at Salem, Mass., 

but was then of Saybrook, Conn. They had issue : (i) Will- 

iam ; (ii) John; (iii) Samuel, who d. in 1742, "very aged;" 

(iv) Matthew. She survived her father, but the date of her 

death is unknown. There were families of this name in 

Ipswich, Suffolk, but no attempt has been made to connect 

them with the husband of Mary. 

The lands which Reinold received from his father near 

Moyse Hall were in Ramsey Parish, and if there were chil- 

dren between Elizabeth and Sarah, they would have been 

recorded on St. Michael's registers ; these, as we have seen, 

are too late to help us. We do not know whether either of 

the three older children ever came to New England ; as only 

Reinold and Mary are mentioned in their father's Will, it 

seems probable that the others died early. 

The Parish of Great Bentley, or Bentley Magna, is in Ten- 

dring Hundred, ten miles south-west of Ramsey, and having 

* The descendants of Reinold " are given in the Marvin Monograph in " Family 

Histories and Genealogies," published by Professor Edward E. Salisbury, of Yale Uni- 

versity, and Mrs. [Evelyn MeCurdy] Salisbury, who is a descendant of Reinold Mar- 

vin. The Will of Reinold B is printed in that work, Vol. Ill, p. 109.

152 


near its northern border the old road running to London by 

the way of Colchester ; it is eight miles south-east of the 

latter place, and sixty-two miles from London, on the Ten- 

dring Hundred branch of the Great Eastern Railway. It 

takes its name, says Morant, "from bent, a sort of grass, or 

place where rushes grow, and ley, pasture or unploughed 

ground." In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Ulwin was 

owner of the Parish. At the time of the Survey, Alberic 

de Vere, ancestor of the Earls of Oxford, held it. His 

estate is valued in "Domesday," and his descendants re- 

tained it till 14.61, when, during the Wars of the Roses, it 

fell to the Crown (Edward IV) by attainder,— perhaps for 

the attachment of its owner to the cause of Henry VI, the 

last of the Lancastrian Kings. 

The De Veres regained a large estate here on the acces- 

sion of Henry VII, in 1485, which was subsequently sold for 

a debt to the Crown, to one Glascock. The next owner was 

Sir Roger Townshend, who held it of Queen Elizabeth " in 

capite by knight's service;" he died in 1590, and it then 

passed to his son Sir John, his grandson Sir Roger, baronet, 

and then to Sir Horatio, who sold it to a London merchant, 

Nicholas Corsellis. The Townshends were therefore " Lords 

of the Manor " when our ancestors were living there. 

The De Vere mansion stood in "Hall Field," and was 

once a splendid and stately seat, with moat and fish ponds, 

aad a handsome park, but nothing now remains of the an- 

cient building. The present manor house is situated on 

the north side of the Church ; 

the later owners of this


estate were the Papillons, the Clays, and the Francis family 

of Colchester ; and in 1897 it was owned by the Rev. Wm. 

Adderley Francis, of Little Tey, Essex, who is Lord of the 

Manor. Not far away, about 1600, stood the mansion of the 

Clares. The Lodge now standing in the Parish is owned by 

Lord Ashburton. 

The land is of uneven surface, diversified with hill and 

dale, and the village is pleasantly situated around a beautiful 

" Green " or common of forty-two acres, which once formed 

a portion of the Park attached to the seat of the De Veres. 

This Green was, in early times, a favorite place for annual 

Fairs ; one, which for centuries was held on the Monday 

after St. Swithun's day (July 15), continued as late as 1855, 

and possibly later ; there was another, on Trinity Mon- 

day, for cattle, and still another on the last Friday in Sep- 

tember, for sheep. We are informed that these have now 

ceased. 

The Church of St. Mary, in which our ancestors Reinold 

and Matthew were christened, stands on the west side of this 

Green, which it faces. It is built, says Hadfield, "of a rough 

stone of a most remarkable kind, being of a dark brown 

color," known in that vicinity as "ragstone" or Purbeck 

stone, and resembling red sandstone mixed with iron ore. 

The tower is square, with embattled top, and is fifty-five or 

sixty feet in height ; this is built of flints intermingled with 

a stone similar to that of the body of the Church,— many of 

the latter, says Morant, "like iron," and appearing "like a 

heap of gravel petrified together. Some of the stones are

154 


laid aslant." In this tower are five bells. Originally of 

Norman architecture, it is now partly in the Decorated 

style. When Morant described it (in 1768), its nave and 

chancel were of " one pace, and the whole tiled ; 

" it was 

then but " partly ceiled, the chancel not at all : at the west 

end was a gallery," and there was "a porch on the south 

side, in a ruinous state/' 

The Church was restored in 1874 ; 

the chancel retains two 

niches at the east end, and on the south side is a priest's 

doorway, — now built up on the inside but visible on the 

exterior. In the porch are the remains of a " holy-water 

stoup ; 

" and a part of the old staircase to the rood loft is 

still in existence. 

The doorways and arches on the north and south of the 

nave were deemed worthy of careful description by Had- 

field, in his "Churches of Essex," and he gives detail 

drawings of both, from which I compile the following de- 

scription : the north doorway has an arch of eleven stones, 

sculptured with three rows of ornaments like a four-pointed 

star, the key-stone having six rows ; the face of the arch is 

flush with the wall ; there are no pillars on the sides of this 

door, but these are laid up with large squared stones, — 

those at the base of the arch with volutes. The arch of the 

south doorway springs from quaint corbels or brackets ; that 

on the left is a grotesque demon's head, with pointed ears, 

the eyes widely separated, the nose broad and flat with large 

nostrils, and the mouth open, displaying pointed teeth ; the 

one on the right has a man's head, his hair profuse and


parted in the centre, a large flat nose, and grinning mouth 

with the corners pointed upward. The outer curve of the 

arch which springs from the brackets has a twisted or wreath- 

like ornamentation, with small dots or pellets on the alter- 

nate bands ; the next lower curve has chevron or saw-tooth 

carving, and rests on columns which have simple carved 

capitals ; a portion of the span below is filled with masonry, 

and then there is a flatter arch with seven rosettes in the 

upper and nine in the lower row ; the last arch rests on 

square pillars, farther in than the columns. This door is 

that on the right of the tower, in our engraving. 

The various architectural details are exceedingly good, 

says Hadfield, and pure examples of the Norman style of 

William II and Henry I, and the building was erected ap- 

parently between 1097 and 1 1 28. Five of the windows are 

Norman ; 

three, early English, and two, perpendicular gothic, 

— which our authority thinks indicate additions or restora- 

tions at different periods in its history. It has now three 

hundred sittings. The Parish Register dates from 1558, 

but the entries were mixed until 1620, when the marriages 

were separated, and the burials were separately kept after 

1652. 

The Church was given by Alberic De Vere to the Monks 

of Abingdon, in Berkshire, and the Priory of Earl's Colne, 

founded by him as a cell to that monastery. The grant was 

confirmed by his son Alberic and King Henry I. The great 

tithes were appropriated to Colne Priory, 1 March, 1321, by 

the Bishop of London, who in 1323 ordained a vicarage here,

156 


" reserving the collation of it to himself and his successors 

forever, and accordingly it hath been in the Bishop's gift 

ever since," says Morant, and so remains to-day. 

After the dissolution of the Priory, the rectory and great 

tithes of the Parish were granted to John De Vere, a descen- 

dant of the original founder. In 1592 Queen Elizabeth 

gave this rectory, among others, to Theophilus Adams and 

Thomas Butler. A century or more ago a part of the great 

tithes belonged to Mr. James Wilder of Ipswich, at which 

time the Parish was "rated to the land-tax at £74$. 2s" In 

1881 the vicarage was rated at ^330; more recently the 

living was valued at ^250 with a parsonage. The Parish is 

in the Diocese of St. Alban's, Archdeaconry of Colchester, 

and the Rural Deanery of St. Osyth. Its population is 1,000, 

and the Rev. Francis Pery Hutchesson Powell, M. A., was 

the Vicar in 1897.. 

Newcourt's Repertorium gives the names of the Clergy of 

St. Mary's in the latter part of the sixteenth century and 

onward.* The Parish was the scene of many of the religious 

troubles in the stormy times of the Tudors, and it may be 

of interest to refer to some of them. Thomas Tye was 

made Parish Priest by Bishop Bonner, 13 December, 1557, 

when his predecessor, John Shereman, who had been there 

sixteen years, was deprived of the living. Tye had pre- 

viously " professed himself to be a gospeller .... but had 

now turned round, and as his reward for betraying those 

* Repertorium, ii : pp. 50, 51.


whom he once called his brethren, was in the course of the 

year [1557] presented to the vicarage."* 

On the death of Tye, Bishop Grindall presented the living 

to John Dodman, 24 February, 1559. William Thorne suc- 

ceeded, 31 March, 1569; on his death Robert Dernell was 

• appointed 2 November, 1585, and was in charge when Reinold 

and Matthew were christened. He served until his death : 

Bishop Bancroft appointed, 20 February, 1601, a Deacon, John 

Todd, to succeed him. Todd seems to have held it in ex- 

change with Thomas Wennington, or Withington, who fol- 

lowed that Clergyman ; 

Todd was ordained Priest while at St. 

Mary's, and later was promoted to be Bishop of Down and 

Connor. After Wennington died, Richard King, S. T. P., 

became the incumbent 20 May, 161 2, but resigned the follow- 

ing year, and Richard Ram took charge 7 April, 161 3, but 

soon resigned, and 21 April, 161 5, Israel Edwards obtained 

the living: "he conformed."! Joseph Brodey held it tem- 

porarily, by whose authority does not appear. Archbishop 

Laud appointed, 5 May, 163 1, William Simpson, who must 

have been the Clergyman who certified that Matthew Marvin 

was "conformable." 

* Davids, " Annals of Non-Conformity in Essex," p. 48, where will be found some 

account of his cruel work. Fox, in his Martyrology, gives particulars of the martyrdom 

of members of the family of William Munt of Great Bentley, among them his 

daughter and his maid, Rose Allen, who were executed at Colchester 2 August, 1557 

dealings with these and others of this Parish are described in a letter of Tye. See 

also Davids, as cited, pp. 46-51, for an interesting account of the occurrences there 

in that year. These must have been familiar tales to Edward Marvin, then a youth of 

Ramsey, where persecutions were also rife in his day, and on similar grounds. 

t Davids, as cited, p. 301. 

;


The troubles lasted during the period which followed the 

departure of our ancestors. Nicholas Lewes was the next 

Vicar, 15 April, 1642, but his vicarage was "sequestered for 

that he hath been often drunke and useth to sit tipling in 

ale-houses seven or eight houres together, even on the Lord's 

dayes ; 

and affirmed that he hoped to see them all hanged that 

had set their hands against bishops and papists ; and by his 

example the people spend the greatest part of the Lord's 

day in pastimes and drinking at the ale-house ; and hath ex- 

pressed great malignancy against Parliament."* Those who 

followed him do not interest us. 

60 Matthew, 6 (Edzvard, 5 Reinold, 4 John,* John* Roger, 1 

) 

brother of Reinold and the youngest son of Edward and 

Margaret Marvin, was baptized at St. Mary's Church, Great 

Bentley, 26 March, 1600. He received by his father's Will 

the property in that Parish occupied by the latter at the 

time of his death, " called Edons alles [alias] Dreybrockes, 

and ij Croftes of Land called Hartles and Brocken Heddes," 

conditionally that he paid to his mother during her life " the 

fulle sume of Sexe Poundes," in default of which the estate 

was to pass to his elder brother Reinold, with a like con- 

dition. 

He married as his first wife, about 1623, Elizabeth , 

who was born in 1604, for her age is given as 31 in the 

record in the "Augmentation Office," London, when she em- 

barked with her husband and five children for New England, 

in 1635. This marriage and the births of the two older 

* From an old record quoted by Davids.

Reinold and Mattheiv Marvin. 159 

children do not appear on the Great Bentley Register,* but 

whether this omission is due to the changes in the Clergy 

and other troubles in the Parish at that period, or to his 

having resided for a time in some neighboring Parish, it is 

impossible to determine. He was a youth of only fifteen 

when his father died, and perhaps made his home with one 

of his older brothers in Wrabness or Ramsey, until he took 

possession of the estate he inherited. 

On 15 April, 1635, "having taken the oathes of Allegeance 

and Supremacie : As 

also being conformable to the Govern- 

ment and discipline of the Church of England, whereof" he 

and his fellow passengers " brought testimony p'r Cert, from 

y e Justices and ministers where there abodes have latlie 

been," Matthew took passage for New England in the In- 

crease, Robert Lea, Master, with his family. The record 

which includes the names of his party is the last entry be- 

fore the vessel sailed, and they probably arrived here about 

the first of June.f He was one of the twelve "very earliest 

emigrants " whose names are knownj among the settlers in 

Hartford, Conn., and who formed the company thereafter 

known as "Adventurers," to whom belonged the section of 

about thirty-five acres called on the Hartford records " Ven- 

turers' Field." He must therefore have been one. of the first 

party which arrived there about 1 November, 1635. 

* So I am informed by Mr. W. K. Watkins, who examined them personally. 

f One vessel arrived in Boston Harbor 4 June, 1635, after a voyage of five and a 

half weeks; three days later "there came in seven other ships, and one to Salem, and 

four more to the mouth of the bay, with store of passengers and cattle. They came 

all within six weeks."—Winthrop's " History of New England," i : 192. 

X S. W. Adams, in " Memorial History of Hartford," i : 221.


While in Hartford he resided on the corner of Village 

[now Pleasant] and Front Streets. Hinman's manuscript 

notes in the Library of the N. E. Historic-Genealogical So- 

ciety say that " Matthew in 1640 resided in the north-east 

part of the village. His lot was bounded north on the road 

from Sentinel Hill to North Meadow road ; west on Wm. 

Kelsey's lot ; south on Stephen West's lot ; east by road 

from Windsor to Wethersfield, by North Meadow." He re- 

sided in Hartford for several years, where he was Surveyor 

of Highways in 1639 and 1647.* 

Apparently he contemplated removing to Farmington, 

Conn., where Reinold had built a house, for we find he owned 

land and a dwelling housef in that town, as did his brother ; 

but in 1650 he went to Norwalk, of which town he and his 

eldest son were among the original settlers. 

His home-lot in Norwalk, as originally granted, was 

"bounded east by Town's Highway, west by Daniel Kel- 

logg's home-lot, north by Thomas Fitch's home-lot, and south 

by Meeting-house yard and the home-lot of his son Matthew, 

Jr." It now forms the north-west corner of East Avenue 

and the ancient County road from Stamford to Fairfield. It 

is shown on the map in Hall's Norwalk, and can readily be 

seen by the traveller over the New York, New Haven and 

Hartford Railroad, on the north side of the track just after 

crossing the bridge coming east from South Norwalk near 

* Hall's " History of Norwalk." 

t This he sold to Nathaniel Kellogg. See Farmington Town Records, Entry of 

Lands, books i and 2.


the East Norwalk station. The late Rev. Dr. Nathaniel 

Bouton, a descendant, in his Historical Sermon on the Two 

Hundredth Anniversary of the settlement, says this lot was 

one of the most desirable in the town, and observes : "The 

name of Matthew Marvin is inscribed on almost every page 

of Norwalk's early history. He was a puritan by blood .... 

Devout, discreet, calm, sound in judgment, he gained and 

held the confidence of his fellow citizens, and discharged 

for them many offices of civil life." The frequent use of the 

title "Mr." on the Records, and the value of his estate, con- 

firm this estimate of the man. He was a Deputy to the 

Colonial Legislature in 1654, probably the first to represent 

the town of Norwalk, and served again in the higher body 

as "Assistant," in 1659. 

While living in Hartford his wife Elizabeth died ; the 

date has not been found, but it must have been between 

1640 and 1646, and he married, secondly, about 1647, Mrs. 

Alice, the widow of John Bouton, of Hartford, by whom he 

had issue.* 

* The facts and official documents from Fairfield Probate Records, on which this 

statement is based, and which contradict the account given in the " Bouton-Boughton 

Family," have been discovered since the publication of my monograph in " Family 

Histories and Genealogies," in which 1 followed earlier authorities, who believed the 

second wife was Mrs. Alice Kellogg. These data have been printed in full in the N. 

E. Hist, and Gen. Register for July, 1897, and need not be repeated here. 

The Boutons are said by family tradition to have been a Huguenot family, but I have 

found nothing of value to sustain this or the fanciful stories concerning the noble 

ancestry of John and the arms assigned the family in the volume cited, — matters which 

I discussed in the Register. The name is found in Essex and Suffolk more than a 

century before the emigration to New England, and a half century before the persecu- 

tion in France. I think it highly probable that John Bouton, Jr., who married Mat-

1 62 The English Ancestry of 

Matthew died in Norwalk between 20 December, 1678, the 

date of his Will,* and 12 July, 1680, the date of his Inven- 

ventory.f His widow Alice made oath to it 17 December, 

1680, and it was finally approved 25 January, 1680/1. Her 

Will:): is dated 1 December, 1680, and the Inventory of her 

estate was taken "this last of January, 1680/1." The rec- 

ords show that previous to his death Matthew had given a 

large part of his landed estates to his children ; notwith- 

standing which, his remaining property was valued at ^393 

12s. 8d, and the lists of the town show that he was one of 

its wealthiest citizens. 

The children of Matthew and Elizabeth were : 

91 i. Elizabeth, 7 b. about 1624; she is called 31 on the Aug- 

mentation Record, doubtless a clerical error for 11. She 

mar., before her father left Hartford, Dr. John Olmstead, 

who d. in Norwich, Conn., 2 Aug., 1686. Her Will is dated 

15 Oct., 1689 ; she d. in 1708. § She left no issue. 

92 ii. Matthew, b. about 1627 (Augmentation Record); he 

mar. Mary , probably in Hartford, and settled in Nor- 

walk with his father, where he d. in 17 12, leaving issue. 

Like his father, he held many important offices in the Town 

and the Colony. 

thew Marvin's daughter Abigail, was of an Ipswich [England] family; he had a brother 

Richard, and the Register of St. Nicholas, Ipswich, has the baptism there, 10 March, 

1572/3, of a " John Boughton, son of Richard ; 

" other references to the name appear 

there, at St. Peter's, Ipswich, in David's Annals, and in Strype as early as 1527. 

* Recorded at Fairfield, Conn., Probate Records, iii, p. 58. I have a copy. 

t This immediately follows the Will in the volume of Records cited. 

X Ibid., p. 61, and printed in the Register, as cited. 

$ Savage, in his Errata to p. 312 of Vol. Ill, printed in Vol. IV. Miss Calkins, in 

her History of Norwich, p. 193, gives further information of this family.


93 iii. Marie, bap. at Great Bentley, 16 Dec, 1628 ; mar. (1) 

at Hartford, 11 Oct., 1648, Richard Bushnell, by whom she 

had issue, and (2) as his second wife, in 1659, Dea. Thomas 

Adgate, of Saybrook, who d. 21 July, 1707, leaving issue by 

Marie ; she d. 29 March, 1713. 

94 iv. Sarah, "christened" at Great Bentley, 27 Dec, 1631 ; 

mar. (1) in Hartford, 4 Oct., 1648, Ensign William Good- 

rich, who d. in 1676, leaving issue ; she mar. (2) about 1680, 

Capt. William Curtis, of Stratford, Conn., by whom she had 

no children ; she d. near the close of 1701, and her Will 

was proved 7 Jan., 1702 ; he d. 31 Dec, 1702. 

95 v. Hannah, b. about October, 1634, as she was "aged 1/2 

year" in April, 1635, when the family left England. No 

record of her baptism is found at Great Bentley. She mar., 

probably in Norwalk, in January, 1653/4, Thomas Seymour, 

whose father was from Heytor Hundred, Devon. She is 

mentioned in her father's Will (Dec, 1678) as living, but 

d. before her husband, who mar. a second time, and d. in 

Sept. or Oct., 17 12. Hannah had nine children. 

96 vi. Abigail, b. in Hartford, Conn., about 1637 ; mar. in Nor- 

walk "January ith, 1656/7 "* John Bouton, of Norwalk, son 

of her father's second wife Alice, by her first husband, John 

Bouton ; she was living in 1680-1, but the date of her death 

is unknown ; 

her husband, who survived her, mar. a second 

time ; his Will is dated 25 Dec, 1706. She had six, and 

possibly seven children. 

97 vii. Rebecca, b. in Hartford about 1639 ; she mar. John 

Clarke, of Farmington, Conn., who d. there 22 Nov., 171 2, 

leaving a large family ; the date of her death is unknown. 

She is mentioned as living, in her father's Will. 

* Nonvalk Records.

164 Reinold and Matthew Marvin 

By his second wife, Alice, Matthew had certainly Samuel 

and Rachel and probably also Lydia. 

98 ix. Lydia, (?) of whom the only mention I have found Is in 

Hinman, and in Porter's Historical Notices of Connecticut. 

If they are correct, she must have d. young, as she is not 

named in her father's Will. 

99 x. Samuel, bap. at Hartford, 6 Feb., 1647/8 ; d. young. 

100 xi. Rachel, bap. at Hartford, 30 Dec, 1649; mar - Samuel 

Smith, of Norwalk, by whom she had issue. Neither the 

date of her death nor that of her husband has been learned, 

but she survived her mother. 

Further information of the descendants of Matthew will 

be found in "Family Histories and Genealogies," and espec- 

ially in the Pedigree Tables therein ; in the notes on the 

Bushnell Family in the N. E. Hist. Register (1899) ; the 

Hyde Family, where the descendants of Thomas and Mary 

Adgate are traced for several generations ; and in the Good- 

rich, Clark and Bouton Genealogies. The pedigrees above 

mentioned also contain ten generations of the Reinold line. 

As this volume is devoted only to the English ancestry of 

the New England Marvins, it would be a departure from 

our plan to carry the line of descent further.

APPENDIX. 

wrHEN this work was undertaken, it was believed that all the infor- 

mation attainable could be given in a pamphlet of thirty or forty 

pages ; but new material has come to light during the eighteen months in 

which the book has been in press, until the projected pamphlet has grown 

into a volume. The following notes, chiefly relating to families of the 

same name with individuals who intermarried with Marvins, in most cases 

received too late to be given at their proper place in the text, are added 

here chiefly as suggesting possible clues for further research ; 

if they should 

chance to prove of value to some future investigator, their insertion will 

be justified. I take this opportunity to correct one or two errors that have 

been discovered. 

Page 22. A second examination of the Will of Roger Marvin, made at 

my request, shows that his "lands and tenements " are not specified in 

his Will. 

Page 32. The reference here to the Church-bell in Great Belstead is 

an error; it was that of the Church in Belstead, (/. e.. Little Belstead. as 

formerly called,) which was broken and sold ; the statement is corrected 

on page 68. 

On page 40, Maryon Marvin (dau. of John of Chattisham) is called the 

wife of " Christian 11 Alderman. Later information, given on page 122, 

shows that she was probably the wife of Thomas Glamefield of Hintle- 

sham.

1 66 Appendix 

The Parish Registers of St. Nicholas, Harwich, abound with entries con- 

cerning the families of Blosse, Borflete, Cooper, Herde and Hewett, from 

1559 t0 I ^3° ar,d onward I have notes ; of more than one hundred of these ; 

some among them presumably belong to descendants of daughters men- 

tioned on pages 40, 41, etc., and a few have been given in the text, but it 

has not been thought advisable to print the others, as the identity and 

indeed the connection of most of them with those of the same name in 

the families which intermarried, as we know, with the Marvins of Harwich 

and vicinity, is altogether uncertain. 

The first entries on the oldest Parish Registers extant are very incom- 

plete ; the law requiring the Clergy to keep these records came into effect 

but slowly, for the " clerks" were not always ready penmen in those days. 

Even where there was a willingness to comply with such requirements, the 

suppression of religious houses and the consequent and frequent changes 

in Parish priests which preceded the death of Henry VIII — changes which 

especially marked the reigns of his immediate successors — and the sharp 

divisions among the followers of one or the other party in the Church, 

who refused to receive her sacraments from ministers with whose creed 

they could not agree, sufficiently explain the deficiencies. This is particu- 

larly true of Harwich at the period under notice, when the Parishes of St. 

Nicholas and its mother Church at Dovercourt were full of trouble. (See 

P- 54-) 

A single example will show how difficult it is to determine the identity 

of persons named in those old records, with the little light we now pos- 

sess. The Will of a Margaret Cooper, alluded to on page 41, names her 

son Roger, her daughter Christian, who married Haines, and a son 

and grandson Thomas (Christian names frequently occurring on the Har- 

wich Register), but it also mentions several children not found on that 

Register, and some who are there called children of John and Margaret 

Cooper are not named in this Will. There may have been more than one 

John Cooper who had a wife Margaret, contemporary with the one named 

below, and there are other possible explanations which it is needless to 

1 ' 

suggest. It is hardly probable that this Margaret was the " Aunte Cooper 

of John Marvin (31), but I venture, even with this uncertainty, to print 

the substance of the Will, for several of the names it contains are the same 

with those of persons in Marvin Wills, etc., whom I have been unable to 

identify.

Appendix 167 

ABSTRACT OF THE WILL OF MARGARET COOPER.* 

8'h December, 1587, I Margaret Cooper of Harwich in co. Essex, widow, 

do make my Will as follows : 

I give to Margaret Cooper, my daughter, six platters of pewter, four pewter 

dishes, &c. &c, a Dryppinge panne, a Skomer, a tramell, &c. &c. 

To Margaret Haukes my " Lyttle feather bead." 

To Peter Cooper's wife a feather bead, &c. ; after her decease the same 

to remain to Phillis her daughter. 

To Richard Cooper a feather bead. 

If the said Margaret and Richard Cooper die, I will that their parts shall 

wholy remain to Em. Sawer. 

To William Cooper a Sypers [? cypress] chest. 

To Thomas Cooper, my son Roger's child, a " latten poote " and to John 

Cooper, my son Roger's child, a " payre of rackes." 

To my son Roger's wife a great " brasenn chaffing-dishe." 

To Thomas Cox my best bedstead and featherbed, &c. 

All the money due to me from my son Roger shall be equally divided be- 

tween Phillis Harte and Em. Sawer— excepting out of the said money, I give to 

Em. Sawer £^ and to Margaret Cowper ^5, which said money I will my execu- 

tors pay to my daughters as they think most needful. 

The rest of my goods to be divided between Phillis Harte, Em. Sawer, and 

Cristian Haines my Daughters. 

I make my son Thomas Cowper and Richard Grene, mariner, executors, 

and Robert Shimming, innholder, Supervisor. 

Witnesses, Ricd Waters, John Allden, John Cottingham. 

Proved 24 Jany 1587/8. 

Page 56. 

marke 

Margaret 

Cowper **» 

The Barkers of Ipswich are mentioned by Shoberl and other 

writers as a family of some distinction. John Barker, a relative, created a 

Baronet in 1621, was at one time the owner of Grimstone Hall, formerly 

the seat of Thomas Cavendish, in Trimley St. Martin's. In the Ipswich 

Calendars, Vol. 25, fo. 361, is the Will of Widow Johan Barker, of Chat- 

tisham, dated 13 July, 1575 

and one daughter. 

; she mentions five sons, among them a John, 

•Commissary Court of London (Essex and Herts).

1 68 Appendix 

The " Visitations of Suffolk, 1561," p. 49, gives the arms of John Lamb, 

of Trimley, sable, on a fess or between three cinquefoils ermine, a lion 

passant gules between two mullets of the field. Crest, a demi-lion ram- 

pant gules holding in dexter paw a mullet sable. The names of his 

children, their marriages, etc., to the fourth generation, are also given. 

Page 57. 

The Will of a " Thomas Richman," of Orford (a town some 

ten miles north-east of Ipswich), dated 21 Jan'y, 29 Elizabeth, [1587] 

recorded on the Calendar of Suffolk Wills, at Ipswich, Vol. 31, fo. 265, 

mentions wife Joan, daus. Agnes, unm., " Sabin" and Margaret, sons-in- 

law James Barber and William Bucknam, and grandchildren not named. 

The Will of Margaret Rycheman, of " Fresyngfelde," widow, dated 

28 March, 1560, on fo. 101 of Vol. 20 of the same Calendar, names sev- 

eral children, among them Thomas of " Stradbroke " and his dau. Agnes. 

These two Parishes are not very far from Ipswich. 

Page 105. The " American Journal of Archaeology" for 1899, p. 102, 

says: — "In restoring the Church of All Saints at Dovercourt, Harwich, 

some ancient frescoes have been discovered which may, it is hoped, be 

saved. This Church was given to the Abby of Colne at the time of 

William the Conqueror. 

Page 127. The date of probate of the Will of Christopher Alderman 

is given as 1563, which, it will be seen, is ten years previous to its date. 

This was doubtless an error of the copyist, and should be 1573, as the 

volume in which it is recorded [24], contains only the Wills which were 

made or proved in 1572 and ~"]^. 

Page 148. In May, 1649, there was at Southampton, Long Island, a 

Robert Marvin, who was possibly Robert, 7 (85) son of Robert 6 (56) ; he 

had a lot of land given him there "on three months' probation;' 1 

as this 

lot was valued at one hundred pounds, it must have been quite an extensive 

one. This Robert married Mary, daughter of William Browne, who 

was a merchant, and in 1648 a freeman of Southampton. In 1652 Robert 

administered on the estate of his father-in-law, who died in the latter 

part of 1650; he himself appears to have been living in Hempstead as late 

as 1682. On page 1, Book A, of the Hempstead Records, " Robord 

Marville" is mentioned, no doubt the same, as this spelling of the name


by careless clerks is found on numerous records, and in nearly the same 

form on the grave-stone of the wife of Capt. Reinold Marvin, Duck River 

Burying-ground, Lyme, Conn. By an entry dated 3 March, 165 1/2, where 

he is called " Rob't Merwin," it appears that he was noted, like Thomas 

of Newbury, Mass., for killing wolves. ' Robard Marvine was chosen, 

17 March, 1657, Stylo nova,' one of the first Townsmen of Hempstead. 

(" Early Long Island," p. 141.) 

Robert 7 and Mary (Browne) Marvin had (1) Mary, s who mar. Will- 

iam Lee, who came from Nottingham, England, in 1675 (Bolton's History 

of Westchester County, Vol. ii : 743) ; William died in 1724, leaving three 

sons, Thomas, d. s. p., Joseph (whose descendants are given by Bolton), 

and Richard, d. s. p., and seven daughters ; (2) John, probably the one 

of that name who witnessed a deed 23 August, 1698 ; he died 1708. (Long 

Island Genealogies, p. 249.) 

The last named is believed to be the John Marvin who married Han- 

nah, daughter of John and Anna (Gildersleeve) Smith, by whom he had 

(1) Robert, 9 mar. Phebe Smith and had issue; (2) Hannah, mar. 

Whitman ; 

(3) Ruth, mar. Richard, son of Richard and Elizabeth (Wicks) 

Townsend; (4) Jemima. (L. I. Gens., ut sup.) 

Robert, 9 the son of John and husband of Phebe, was of Herrick's, 

in the township of Hempstead. Phebe must have been the daughter of 

" Micha" and Phebe Smith, of Hempstead, as in his Will, dated 1 April, 

1747, he makes his widow Phebe and Robert Marvin executors, and names 

daughters Elizabeth and Phebe to whom he leaves ,£200 each. (" Smith 

Wills, of New York and L. I.," p. 28.) 11 October, 1733, Robert was 

a subscriber towards a new edifice for St. George's Church, and served 

on its building committee. In 1735 he was one of those who asked for 

a charter for the Parish ; in 1753 he subscribed £5 towards the construction 

of a new gallery; in 1763 he was one of the petitioners to Hempstead 

to enlarge the Church-yard of St. George's, and he was a Warden 

or Vestryman of that Parish from 1739 to *774- The children of Robert 

and Phebe Marvin were (1) John, 10 b. 26 Sept., 1725, d. young; (2) 

Phebe, b. 3 Sept., 1727, d. young; (3) Robert, bap. 8 April, 1732; (4) 

John, bap. 30 Sept., 1733; "Long Island Genealogies," p. 249, says he 

was "born 1722, mar. 1755, Mary Smith, sister of Sylvanus and Timothy." 

The year of birth is an error, as shown by the Parish Register of St.

1 70 

Appendix 

George's, Hempstead ; this Register is printed in the N. Y. Gen. and 

Biog. Record, Vols. IX to XIII, from which these dates — that of his mar- 

riage, those of his children below, and others given here — are taken; 

(5) Phebe, bap. 16 May, 1736, mar. 4 Oct., 1757, Isaac Smith. 

The Will of Robert, 9 dated 17 Dec, 1767, and proved 15 June, 1775, is 

printed at p. 264 of "Calendar of Wills," published by the Society of 

Colonial Dames, New York ; it mentions also daughters (6) Sarah, d. 

1790; (7) Mary, who is said in "Long Island Genealogies," p. 278, to 

have mar. John Rowland, and had Lorado and Marvin Rowland ; she d. 

in 1776, a strong Loyalist as is shown by her Will ; (8) Hannah, mar, 

5 Feb., 1 740/ 1, Jonathan Rowland, b. in 1704 and d. in 1802; they had 

six children ; he was one of the executors of the Will of his father-in-law 

(9) Ruth, mar. 2 May, 1745, Samuel Rowland, and d. in 1770, before her 

father ; she had two sons. The order and dates of birth of the last four 

daughters are not known, but if the dates of Jonathan are correctly given, 

Hannah must have been the eldest child, and Ruth older than Robert to 

have been married as stated. " Long Island Genealogies," as cited, has 

some further particulars of the Marvin-Rowland children. Jonathan, Sam- 

uel and John were sons of Jonathan and Martha (Seaman) Rowland. 

John, 1 " third son of Robert and grandson of John, mar. 8 Aug., 1755, 

Mary, dau. of John and Susannah Smith, of Herrick's, Hempstead. Her 

father's Will (see page 65 of " Smith Wills of New York and Long Island, 1 

') 

is dated 27 June, 1761 ; it gives Mary ,£176, and also ,£24 to buy a silver 

tankard ; it makes his sons and Isaac executors ; Isaac was, we can hardly 

1 

doubt, the husband of Phebe Marvin, sister of John " and either the son 

of " Micha" (see p. 29 Smith Wills), or his nephew, a son of Isaac, Micah's 

brother (ibid., p. 44). If the son of Micah and Phebe, he was b. 16 

Mar., 1734/5- 

The children of John and Mary (Smith) Marvin were (1) Jacob, 11 who, 

with his mother, was bap. 12 March, 1756, in St. George's Church; he 

was, I judge, the Jacob who, by St. George's (Hempstead) Register, mar. 

26 Nov., 1780, Mary Peters; " N. Y. Marriages," p. 258, gives the date 

as 23 of previous June, which was probably that of the license ; (2) 

Sarah, bap. 19 June, 1757 ; she is, I think, the Sarah whose marriage 

(license?) with Oliver Willis is given in " N. Y. Marriages," ut sup., ij 

June, 1779; (3) Susannah, b. about 1758, but her bap. does not appear 

;

Appendix 171 

on the Record; mar. 28 Jan., 1779, Ichabod Smith, "Lieut, of De Lan- 

sey's Brigade," and who was b. at Huntington, L. I., 2 Dec, 1754; (4) 

Phebe, bap. 20 May, 1763, mar. 31 May, 1783, Daniel Willis; (5) Mary, 

bap. 21 July, 1771, mar. in 1795 John Searing, who may have been son 

of John and Martha (Smith) Searing, b. 8 Sept., 1769, but more prob- 

ably of John and Mary (Prior) Searing, b. 1766, for "Long Island Gen- 

ealogies," p. 290, has the "Will of John Searing the elder," dated 1795, 

which mentions wife Mary (? Prior), Susannah Smith and Sarah Willis, 

called daughters of John Marvin deceased, two daughters, not named, of 

Jecamiah Marvin, of whom I know nothing, and Timothy and Sylvanus 

Smith, the latter of whom married Sarah Searing, 30 June, 1752, — thus 

showing a family connection. It is said that there was also a son John, 

b. after Phebe, and who mar. Mary Searing; I have found no evidence of 

this, and do not know the authority for the statement. 

I am informed that descendants of this family of Marvins were living 

near the old homestead of the first Robert, not many years ago, and it 

may be that some are still residing there. The data here given of Robert's 

descendants, brought together now for the first time so far as I am aware, 

have been gathered from the authorities cited ; generation numbers are 

added merely for convenience in distinguishing them. It must be left for 

some future student to establish the connection, if any exists, between 

Reinold and his brothers, and this Long Island settler, which is here sug- 

gested as possible, and to trace the line of descent of the latter.

INDEX OF WILLS. 

MARVIN WILLS, ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 

Roger of Ipswich [abstract], made 10 Sept., 1475; proved 10 Sept., 1475. 2 4 

Robert of Ipswich, made 28 Feb'y, 1490/1 ; proved 30 March, 1491. 26 

John, Sr. of Washbrook, made — June, 1512 (?) ; proved 

2 Aug., 151 5. 35 

John, Jr. of Chattisham, made 27 March, 1535/6; proved 10 May, 1536. 70 

Thomas of Harwich, made 18 Nov., 1550 proved ; 

Reinold of Ramsey, made 22 Dec, 1554; proved . 

17 Dec, 1550 (?). 58 

78 

Robert of Ramsey, made 10 Dec, 1556; proved 19 Jan'y, 1556/7. 44 

Rose (widow of John, Jr.) of Little Belstead [abstract], made 25 April, 

1 557 ; proved . 

72 

Anne (widow of Thomas of Harwich) of Harwich, made 20 March, 1557/8 ; 

proved 30 Dec. 1558. 59 

Isbelle (widow of Robert of Ramsey) of Ramsey, made 2 Jan'y, 1559/60; 

proved 6 June, 1560. 47 

Thomas of Ramsey, made 14 Oct., 1561 ; proved . 83 

John of Ramsey, made 30 Jan'y, 1 570/1 ; proved . 92 

John of Oakley Parva, made 5 March, 1584/5; proved . 117 

John of Ramsey, made 12 July, 1594; proved . 

Thomas of Copdocke, made 7 Aug., 1597 proved ; 

133 

12 Oct., 1597. 120 

Edward of Great Bentley, made 13 Nov., 1615; proved 17 Jan'y, 1615/6. 112 

Edward of Thorington, made 30 Dec, 1622 (?) ; proved 

Robert of Hempstead, Long Island, made 17 Dec, 1767 ; 

1 March, 1622/3. 141 

proved 15 June, 

1775, notes from. 170

Index of Wills 173 

II. 

WILLS OF MEMBERS OF ALLIED FAMILIES, ETC., ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY. 

A FEW DATES NOT GIVEN IN THE TEXT ARE SUPPLIED 

FROM THE RECORDS. 

Alderman, Christopher, of Ipswich [abstract], made 30 March, 1573; 

proved 3 Nov., 1573. 

Alderman, Christopher, of Bentley. made 2 March, 1595/6; proved 22 

July, 1596, notes from. 126 

Alderman, John, of Ipswich, made 20 May, 1588; proved 10 July, 1588, 

notes from. 126 

Barker, Johan (widow), of Chattisham, made 13 July, 1575; proved 27 

Oct., 1575, notes from. 167 

Cooper, Margaret (widow), of Harwich [abstract], made 8 Dec, 1587; 

proved 24 Jan'y, 1587/8. 167 

Glamefield, Thomas, of Hintlesham [abstract], made 4 April, 1595 ; 

22 May, 1595. 

Glamfelde, Thomas, of Tatingstone, made 10 July, 1592 ; 

proved 

proved 19 Oct., 

1592, notes from. 122 

Richman, Thomas, of Orford, made 21 Jan'y, 1587; proved 29 March. 

1587, notes from. 168 

Rycheman, Margaret (widow), of Fresyngfelde, made 28 March, 1559/60; 

proved 2 July, 1560, notes from. 168 

Searing, John, of Hempstead, Long Island, made 1795, notes from. 171 

Smith, John, of Hempstead, Long Island, made 27 June, 1761, notes from. 170 

Smith, Micha, of Hempstead, Long Island, made 1 April, 1747; proved 

, notes from. 169 

126 

124

INDEX OF NAMES. 

Wives are indexed by their maiden names when known, as well as by that of 

their husband; e.g., Elizabeth (Marvin) Hale is indexed under each name (pp.74 and 

93). A dash (-) shows that the name appears on all of the intervening pages. 

Adams, S. W., 159 

Theophilus, 156 

Adgate, Mary, 163, 164 

Thomas, 163, 164 

Akers, , 93 

Alderman, Agnes, 70, 125-127 

Alice, 126 

Ann, 126 

Christopher, 40, 70, 72, 122, 125- 

127, 165, 168 

Jane, 126 

John, 72, 125-127 

Jone, 126 

Katherine, 126 

Marian, 126, 127 

Richard, 126 

Allden, John, 167 

Allen, John, 97 

Rose, 157 

Solomon W. S., 82 

Alvey, Richard, 140 

Appleton, Wm. S., 5, 6 

Ashburton, Lord, 153 

Ashton, Hugh, 140 

Ayloffe, , 76, 105 

William, 76 

Balles, George, 127 

Bamford, William, 109 

Bancroft, Bp., 17, 157 

Barber, James, 168 

Barker, , 61, 65, 167 

Johan, 167 

John, 56, 57, 63, 167 

Barnard, Francis, 1 1 

Hannah, 11 1, 112 

Henry, 22 

Barnes, Richard, 113, 148 

Bateman, John, 93 

Baylie, William, 141 

Baynard, Ralph, 10 

Bayning, , 109 

Beelle, Robard, 63 

Bedingfield, William, 11 

Belcham, Robert, 72 

Belman, , 127 

Bendyche, Thomas, 64 

Benet, John, 37 

Bennett, Hugh, 16 

Benwell, Proctor, 109 

Berry, William, 28 

Beryffe, Tho., 115 

Beteryche, , 43, 44 

Alice, 44, 79, 80 

John, 44, 46, 80 

Matthew, 44, 46, 80 

Bigod, Count Hugh, 101, 103 

2

Bigod, Roger (Earl of Norfolk), 52, 103 

Index of Names 175 

Bromley, John, 22 

Birmun, Richard, 121 Brooke, Henry, 85 

Bishop, John, 1 14 

Brotherton, Thomas de, 57 

Zackerey, 114 Brown, Annes, 144 

Blande, Thomas, 17 Browne, Mary, 168, 169 

Bloboll, , 1 20 William, 168 

Elizabeth, 120, 121 Bucknam, William, 168 

Bloom, J. Harvey, 15 Bunynghill, Wm., 12 

Blosse (Blois), , 44, 132, 166 Burgess, William, 104 

Anne, 44, 48 Bury, John, 37 

Bridget, 44, 48 Bushnell, Mary, 163 

John, 44, 46-48 Richard, 163 

Robert, 44, 48, 79, 80 Butler, Thomas, 156 

Sissely [Cicely], 44, 48, 80 Cartwryt, Thomas, 118 

Thomas, 44, 48 Gary, Robert (Earl of Monmouth), 13 

Blowe, Widow, 64 Causston, , 56, 60, 64 

Bonner, Bp., 17, 156 Cavendish, , 24 

Boothes, Sir Philip, 12 Thomas, 167 

Borflete, Ann, 31, 42, 46, 50 

Cheslow, Thomas, 83 

Francis, 42, 45-47, 50 Christmas, Elizabeth, 1 

John, 31, 46, 50 George, 11 

Mary, 46, 50 Churchman, Thomas, 46, 49, 79, 80 

Robert, 31, 45, 46, 50 Wife of, 48 

Thomas, 31, 46, 50 Clare, John, 140 

Borlas (Borlasy), John, 88 Clark (Clarcke), John, 74, 96 

Bouton (Boughton), Abigail, 162, 163 Margaret, 74, 93, 96 

Alice, 11 1, 161, 164 Robert, 121 

John, 1 11, 161-163 William F., 24 

Nathaniel, 161 Clarke, G. R., 24 

Richard, 162 John, 163 

Boyden, John, 23 Rebecca, 163 

Brandham, Hugh, 39 

Clays, 153 

Branham, Hugh, 104 Cokleffe, Widow, 4 S 

Bredge, Edward, 137 Cole, Stephen, 115 

Brett, Barbara, 39, 81, 84, 85 Cookson, Edward, 125 

Joan, 81, 83, 84 Cooper, "Aunt," 40, 41, 93, 166 

Margaret, 81, 83, 84 Christian, 41, 166, 167 

Mary, 81, 83, 84 Elizabeth, 56 

Bride, Ralph, 16 John, 40, 41, 95, 166, 167 

Bristow, , 109 Margaret, 41, 166, 167 

Brodey, Joseph, 157 Martha, 40 

Broke, Francis, 04 Owen. 4 1 

1

176 Index of Names 

Cooper, Peter, 167 

Richard, 41, 167 

Roger, 40, 41, 56, 93, 166, 167 

Thomas, 40, 41, 56, 64, 65, 95, 

166, 167 

Ursula, 40 

William, 167 

Coper, Richard, 59 

Coppynge, John, 37 

Core [? Corey], Susan, III, 148 

Corsellis, Nicholas, 152 

Cottingham, John, 167 

Cox, Thomas, 167 

Cranmer, Abp., 127 

Crisp, Frederick Arthur, 125 

Curson, Lord, 127 

Curtis, Sarah, 163 

William, 163 

Dabne, Barbara, 93 

William, 93 

Dale, Samuel, 52, 54 

Darbie, John, 67 

Darcy, 82, 88 

Daundy, Edmund, 29 

Davall, Sir Thomas, 1 

Dave, John, 75, 78 

Davids, , 17, 157 

Daye, Richard, 64 

De Vere, 88, 101, 152, 153 

Alberic, 102, 103, 152, 155 

Countess Juliana, 103 

John, 156 

Deane, William, 123 

Debenham, Sir Gilbert, 24 

Dernell, Robert, 157 

Deth, John, 140 

Dodman, John, 157 

Dowe, Ric, 59 

Dowsing, Wm., 27, 57, 68 

Duke, , 12 

Edgar, Anne, 130 

Gregory, 130 

5 

Edwards, Israel, 157 

Everit, Abraham, 17 

Fallowes (?), John, 119 

Feminge, Henry, 86 

Fenn, Anthony C, 76 

Fitch, Thomas, 160 

Fitzjames, Bp., 17 

Fitz Lewes, Elizabeth, 130 

Foote, Henry, 109 

Fortescue, Adam, 108 

Fountayne, William, 88 

Francis, Wm. Adderley, 153 

Garland, Nath'l, 11 

Gilbert (Guylberd, Gylberd), , 133 

Ambrose, 129 

Edward, 108 

Elizabeth, 129 

George, 129 

Hieron, 90, 128, 129, 136, 137 

Jane, 129 

Jerome, 128, 129 

Margaret, 129 

William, 128, 129 

Gildersleeve, Anna, 169 

Gillgat (Gillyat, Gyllyatt), Alice, 116, 

118 


Margaret (?), 77, 116 

Glamefield (Glamfelde), Edmond, 122, 

124 

Edward, 124 

George, 122 

Joan, 70, 122-124 

John, 123, 124 

Judith, 124 

Margaret, 124 

Maryon, 70, 122-125, 165 

Richard, 123, 124 

Rose, 123, 124 

Sara, 124 

Thomas, 70, 72, 122-125 

William, 122, 124

Glascock, , 152 

Goldingham, , 1 

Gouldingham, Christopher, 132 

Jonas, 132, 237 

Goodrich, Mrs. B. F., 5, 18 

Sarah, 163 

William, 163 

Gorton, Fred'k R., 67 

Gosse, John, 47 

Graye, Miles, 66-68 

Green, John, 106 

S., .25 

Grene, Richard, 167 

Thomas, 64 

Grenewiche, Stephen, 127 

Grimston, Sir Harbottle, 11 

Grindall, Bp., 17, 85, 141, 157 

Guldfords, , 12 

Gwynne, J. E. A., 55 

Haines, Christian, 166, 167 

Hannam, Henry, 127 

Hare, Denys, 93 

Harte, Phillis, 167 

Harvey, Dorothy, 39 

John, 97 

Haukes, Margaret, 167 

Hawkyn (Hawkins), Elizabeth, 55, 56, 

61 

.Henry, 55, 61 

John, 55, 56, 61 

Roger, 55, 56,61,64 

Rose, 55, 61 

Thomas, 55, 56, 61 

Hayle, Elizabeth, 74, 91, 93 

John, 74, 89, 93, 96, 97 

Wealthe, 74, 93 

William, 74, 93 

Hayes, John, in, 1 14 

Haynes (Heynys), John, 26, 27 

Hayward. John, 98 

Hedge, Richard, 47, 85 

Thomas, 79 

5 


Herd (Herde. Hearde), Catherine. 

39 

Christian, 82-84 

John, 12, 39, 118, 1 19, 138 

Thomas, 39, 47, 49, 82, 84, 85, 97, 

9 8 


Hervy, Will., 16 

Hews, John, 6-1 

Hewit (Heweyt, Ilughitt), James, 42- 

47 


Hill, Bp., 16 

Water [Walter], 47 

Hille, Joan, 66 

Richard, 66 

Hocking, John H, 66 

Hodkinson, Wm., 17 

Holand, John, 104 

Horton, John, 16 

How (Howe), John, 79, 80 

Stephen, 79 

Howard, , 88 

Hurre, Thomas, 97-99 

Huse, Mrs. H. P., 8 

Ingram, Delaval S., 89 

James, Christian, 55, 104 

Jefferey, John, 17 

Jennings, Nicholas, 150 

Johnson, John, 49, 79, So 

Katherine, 47, 49, 80 

Judd, Sylvester, 1 1 

Karslake, Henry J. W., 141 

Keary, C. F., 98 

Kellogg, Alice, 161 

Daniel, 160 

Nathaniel, 160 

Kelsey, Wm., 160 

Kemp, Abp., 16 

Keyes, Richard, 93 

Keymes, Elizabeth, 1 

King, Richard, 157 

1 

1

T 7 8 Index of Names 

Knight, Alice, 46 Marvin, Annys, 104, 136 

Marget, 46 

Audre, 77, 79 

Ky ng>— 64 . Barbara, 73, 74, 77, 79, 82, 84, 85, 

Widow, 79 

91, 92, 96, 116 

Kynge, Robert, 39 Betteris [Beatrice], no, 137, 141, 

Lame (Lamb), Adam, 57, 61 142, 145 

John, 57, 63, 1 68 Christian, 30, 39, 75, 81-84, 9 r > 

Richard, 57, 61 119 

Lane, William, 48 Edmund, 133-136 

Laud, Abp., 17, 157 Edward, 17, 75-78, 88, 105, 106, 

Layton, John, 136, 137 109, no, 112, 115, 128, 132- 

Lea, Robert, 159 139. I4I-I43' H5-i49> !57> 

Lee, Joseph, 169 158 

Mary, 169 Elizabeth, 26, 32, 34, 36, 37, 55, 

Richard, 169 56,60,67, 72, 74, 86, 93, in, 

Thomas, 169 115, 120, 121, 149, 151, 158, 

William, 169 161, 162 

Lecke, Sir Amy, 37 

1 

Ellen, 55, 58 

Leckelbere, Stephen, 145 Ells (? Alice), 77 

Leger, Peter, 64, 65 

George, F., 8 

Lewes, Nicholas, 158 Hannah [? m, 112], 163, 169, 

Loosk, Suzin [Susan], no, 147 170 

Lountle, , 93 Isaacke, 120 

Lovell, John, 17, 85 Isabell, 31, 42, 44, 45, 47, 49, 80 

Low, Richard, 141 Jacob, 170 

Lowth, , 130 Jecamiah, 171 

Lucas, , 11, 13, 138 Jemima, 169 

Elizabeth, n Johan, 39, 70-72, 76, 78, 79, 115, 

John, 5, n, 12, 76, 138 122 

Thomas, 1 

John, 10, 13, 23-26, 30-43, 47, 50, 

Luckyne, William, 85 65, 67, 69, 70, 72-79, 81, 83, 84, 

Manning, Thomas, 127 87-96, 99, 100, 104, 105, 108, 

Marsh, Nicolas, 103 in, 115-117, 119, 120, 122, 

Marten, Annes, 46 125, 128, 130-137, 145, 147, 

Marvin, Abigail, 162, 163 148, 158, 165, 166, 169-171 

Agnes, 70, 71, 122, 125, 126 Jone, 25, 26, 86 

Alice, 34, 36, in, 161-164 Katterin [Katharine], 120, 121 

Alson, 25-27 Lydia, 164 

Ann, 30, 31, 34, 50, 117, 118 Margaret, (? 41, 73), 74, 77, 78, 91, 

Anne, 29, 30, 32, 40, 41, 43, 51, 93, 96, 104, no, 113, 114, 116, 

54, 55> 57, 59, 60. 62-65, 85, '18, 131-133- 137' 148. 158 

86, 116, 117 Margere, 77, 79

1 


Marvin, Marian [See Maryon], 119, Marvin, Thomas, 25-27, 29-32, 38, 39, 

121 41, 43, 50, 52-56, 58,60-63,67, 

Mary, III, 120, 150-152, 162, 163, 73, 79, 81-83, 85, 86, 91, 106, 

169-171 no, 113, 114, 116, 119-121, 

Maryon, 40, 70, 71, 83, 122, 125, 144-147, 169 

165 Ursula (?), 40 

Matilda, 21, 24, 25 

William, 151 

Matthew, 6, 7, 11, 12, 17, 18, 27, Mascherell, Alexander, 107 

73, 82-85, 107, III-I16, 144, Editha, 107 

146, 149, 153, 157-162, 164 Walter, 107 

Phebe, 169-17 

Mayne, Richard, 88 

Rachel, 164 Mayor, Robert B., 141 

Rebecca, 163 

Metcalfe, Walter C, 130 

Reinold, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18,30, Monsey, Daniel, 141 

3'. 34, 39, 42-44, 46, 49> 73- 75- 

Montague, Lady Anne, 130 

76, 78-81, 83, 84, 87, 91, 92, Montchesney, , 140 

104-107, 1 1 1-1 16, 1 19, 133, 136, Mortymers, , 12 

•37, H4-I5', 153, 157, i5 8 , l6°, Munt, William, 157 

169 

Norden, Henry Louis, 55 

Richard, 77, 78, 106, 1 10, 1 1 1, 1 13, Northale, Wm., 16 

120, 121, 139, i43- I 45- '47 Noyes, Nicholas, 146 

Richard P., 5 

Olmstead, Elizabeth, 102 

Robert, 25-27, 29-32, 34-37, 39, John, 162 

42-45, 49> 5°, 6 5> 6 7, 69, 76, 77, 

Osborne, Widow, 127 

80, 85, 88-90, 94, 95, 107, in, Page, John T., 1 

113, 115, 119, 120, 122, 125, 137, 

144, 146-149, 168-17 

1 

Pakeman, Ann, 116, 118 

Laurence, 1 16, 118 

Roger, 11, 21-25, 29-31, 38, 42, Panton, Nycolas, 64 

5°,73-75> 8 '> 87>9i>95>96, '°4, Papillons, , 1 53 

105, 115, 116, 128, 132, 133, Pargiter, Sir John, 130 

137, 145, 147, 148, 158, 165 Sir Thomas, 130 

Rose, 25, 26, 32, 34, 35, 67, 70-72, 

122, 123, 126 

Pascall, Stephyn, 37 

Paynter, William, 63, 64 

Ruth, 169, 170 Thomas, 59, 63, 64 

Samuel, 164 

Peters, Mary, 170 

Sarah, 151, 163, 170, 171 Pett, Rye, 59 

Selden, 5 

Philipson, John 109 

Sissely [Cicely], 43, 44, 48, 80 Plaice, , 88 

Susan, 110, in, 139, 141-143, Pope, Jone, 48 

148 

Syssely, 48 

Susannah, 170, 171 Powell, Francis P. II., 156 

Theo. R., 3, 11 1 Precke, Aves, 14.) 

1

i8o Index of Names 

Prior, Mary, 171 Sallowes (? Fallowes), 118, 119 

Pulford, Raffe, 37 

Rychard, 72 

Purcas (Purkas), Elizabeth, 136 

Sawer, Em., 167 

Seaman, Martha, 170 

Searing, John, 171 

Loye, 79 

Martha, 171 

Ram, Richard, 157 

Mary, 171 

Randby, Wm., 127 Sarah, 171 

Recherd (Reckerd), Edward, 144, 145 Seman, John, 64 

Reynold, Henry, 17 

Richman (Rycheman), , 

Sewell, John, 118 

168 Seymour, Hannah, 163 

Angnys [Agnes], 58, 61, 168 Thomas, 163 

Ann [Anne], 58, 61 Sharpe, Thomas, 93, 97 

Joan, 168 Shereman, John, 156 

Margaret, 168 Shimming, Robert, 167 

Sabin, 168 Simpson, William, 157 

Thomas, 57, 58, 61, 64, 168 Skott (Skotte), Mary, 120 

Roberts, John, 54, 104 Thomas, 48 

Robynson, Ric, 124 Smith, Anna, 169 

Rosse, 48 


Rochester, Thomas, 88 Hannah, 169 

Roger, William, 64 Ichabod, 171 

Rowland, Hannah, 170 Isaac, 170 

John, 170 John, 169, 170 

Jonathan, 170 Martha, 171 

Lorado, 170 Mary, 169, 170 

Martha, 170 Micha, 169, 170 

Marvin, 170 Phebe, 169, 170 

Mary, 170 Rachel, 164 

Ruth, 170 Samuel, 164 

Samuel, 170 Susannah, 170, 171 

Rownketyll, Henry, 64 Sylvanus, 169, 171 

Roydon, Christopher, 12, 76 Timothy, 169, 171 

Margaret [? Mary], 12 Smyth (Smythe), Henry, 85 

Rumbould, Thomas, 134 James, 11 

Russull, John, 17 John, 32, 67, 72, 97 

Saintclere, Christopher, 17 Nycholas, 47 

Sale, Widow, 48 Richard, 16 

Salisbury, Earl of, 130 Rose, 34, 67, 72, 122 

Edward E., 5, S, m, 151 Thomas, 83 

Mrs. Evelyn McCurdy, 5, 8, in, Snape, , 34 

!5i Elizabeth, 34, 72 

Sayer, Thomas, 106 Spencer, Rychard, 93


Spennele, , 138, 142 Waller, William, 151 

Squyer, Richard, 55 Wallys, , 69-7 1 , 93 

Starlyng, Alles, 48 Walter, William, 136 

Stedds, William, 109 Warde, William, 37 

Stokesley, Bp., 17 Waters, H. F., 6 

Swallow, Margaret, 131- 133 

Swatock (Swattocke), Maryon, 40, 83, 

Richard, 167 

Wates, Robert, 121 

93.96 Watkins, W. K., 5, 131, 159 

Talmache, Anne, 130 Wennington (Withington), Thomas, 

John, 130 157 

Tayler, Jhefferey, 64 Were (Weare), John, 93, 98 

Taylor, Brian, 141 West, Stephen, 160 

J. E., 24 White, C. H. Evelyn, 57, 65, 68 

Richard, 17 John, 17, 1 10 

Thome, William, 157 Sir Thomas 12, 75 

Thurlthorpe, John, 48 

Whitman, Hannah, 169 

Widow, 48 Whitmore, Sir George, 13, 102 

Timperleys, , 123 Wicks, Elizabeth, 169 

Tiptot, Sir Robert, 28 Wilder, James, 156 

Todd, John, 157 

Willis, Daniel, 171 

Townsend, Elizabeth, 169 Oliver, 170 

Richard, 169 Phebe, 171 

Ruth, 169 Sarah, 170, 171 

Townshend, Sir Horatio, 152 Wingfield, Sir Anthony, 131 

Sir John, 152 


Sir Roger, 152 Sir Humfrey, 23, 130, 131, 

Tye, Thomas, 156, 157 Jane, 129, 130 

Valence, , 140 Sir John, 139, 131 

Vaughan, Win., 17, 79, 80, 106 Robert, 130 

Vesey, , 108 Thomas, 23 

Wade, Barbara, 74, 77, 91, 92, 96, 116 William, 109 

John, 74, 77, 78, 92, 95, 97, 115, Wiseman, Anne, 130 

1 16, 118 Simon, 130 

Wake, Rob., 121 Wither, , 17 

Wales, Mary, 79 

Wodderspoon, John, 22, 27-29 

Walford, Emma M., 19, 119 Wood, Wm. Hugh, 16 

Walker, Henry A., 68 Woode, John, 37 

Ralph, 17 

Worte, Maryan, 48 

Waller, John, 1 51 Wright, Joseph, 121 

Matthew, 151 

Wyxe, Bese, 79 

Samuel, 151 John, 93

Abberton, 85 

Abingdon, 155 

Akron, O., 5 

Albany, N. Y., 5 

Ardley, 129 

Bedfield, 11 

INDEX OF PLACES. 

PLACES ARE IN ENGLAND UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. 

Belstead (Great), 32, 36, 65, 67-69, 

119, 165 

Belstead (Little), 34, 67, 68, 72, 119, 

122, 126, 132, 165 

Bentley, Suffolk, 72, 126, 130 

Bentley, Great, 6, 7, 10, 17, 76, 77, 89, 

107, 110-112, 116, 128, 131, 

i37> I39-M4. 146-151, 157- 

i59> 163 

Bentley Green, Great, 6, 1 53 

Bentley, Little, 10, 107, 138 

Bergholt, East, 103 

Bilston, Staffordshire, 57 

Boston, Mass., 159 

Bradfield, 138 

Brantham, 37, 130 

Bylston (Bildeston), Suffolk, 56, 63, 65 

Cambridge, Mass., 5, 18 

Chattisham, 34, 40, 67-70, 72, 108, 1 19, 

122, 165, 167 

Churches: — 

All-Hallows, See All Saints', Dover- 

court 

All-Hallows-the-Wall, London, 54 

All Saints', Dovercourt, 52, 53, 55, 

64, 101-103, 166, 168 

All Saints', Great Oakley, 88, 89 

All Saints', Stanwey, 85 

All Saints', Wrabness, 76, 105 

All Saints' and St. Margaret's, Chat- 

tisham, 68 

Dartford Priory, 33, 36, 65 

Earl's Colne Priory, 54, 103, 155, 

168 

Grey Friars' Monastery, 28, 29, 125 

St. Albright's, Stanwey, 85 

St. George's, Hempstead, L. I., 169, 

170 

St. Leonard's, Bilston, 57 

St. Leonard's, Bylston, 56 

St. Martin's, Trimley, 57, 167 

St. Mary's, Belstead, 32, 67,68, 165 

St. Mary's, Great Bentley, 6, 110- 

112, 131,137,141,147,148, 150, 

153,156, 158 

St. Mary's, Little Oakley, 82, 116

Churches: — 

St. Mary's, Trimley, 57 

St. Mary's, Washbrook, 34-36, 65, 

66 

St. Mary's, Wix, 107, 108, no 

St. Mary's Abbey (Benedictine), 

Wix, 107-109 

St. Mary Magdalene, Thorington, 

139 

St. Michael's, Ramsey, 6, 13, 18,42, 

45- 47. 76, 78,80,87, 132, 134, 

St. Nicholas, Harwich, 17, 19, 40, 

43. 5i. 5 2 . 54. 5 6 > 77,86, 100, 

166 

St. Nicholas, Ipswich, 28, 29, 44, 

125-127, 162 

St. Nicholas, Hintlesham, 123 

St. Osyth's Abbey, Colne, 15, 16 

St. Peter's, Copdock, 34, 66 

St. Peter's, Ipswich, 25-28, 125, 127, 

162 

St. Stephen's, Ipswich, 21-24 

Trinity, Colchester, 129 

Colchester, 11,66, 99, 115, 129, 145, 

*5 2 ' 153, 157 

Colne, 52, 54, 103 

Colnes, 64 

Copdock, 34, 66-68, 119, 120 

Dart ford, ^2^ 3^. 65 

Dedham, 99, 103 

Dorchester, Mass., 126 

Dovercourt, ro, 18, 50-56, 64, 81, 88, 

Khnsted, 129 

90, 93, 94, 96, 97, 100, 1 01, 103, 

Erwarton, 127 

104, 107, 132, 134, 166, 168 

Fairfield, Ct., 160-162 

Fannington, Ct., 150, 160, 163 

Felchurch, 65 

Foulton, 88 

Frating, 107, 113, 141, 148 

Itidex of Places »8 3 

Fresyngfelde, 168 

Fryreson Marsh, 88, 94-96, 132, 134, 

•35 

Hadley, 64 

Hadley, Mass., 1 12 

Hartford, Ct., 5, 6, 1 1 1, 112, 148, 150, 

159-164 

Harwich, 9, 10, 15, 17-19, 30-32, 39- 

41- 43' 5°-56 - 58, 59- 64, 77. 80, 

85, 86, 90, 93,95, 100, 101, 118, 

138, 1 66- 1 68 

Hempstead, L. I., 168-170 

Heytor Hundred, 163 

Highland Falls, N. Y., 8 

Hintlesham, 70, 108, 122-124, '29, 165 

Holbrecke (Holbrook), 74, 93 

Hull, Yorkshire, 77 

Huntington, L. I., 171 

Ipswich, 6, 11, 18, 19, 21-32, 37, 40, 

41,44*50,51, 56, 57,64,65,67, 

68, 70, 72, 74, 95, 99, 108, 120- 

122, 124-127, 131, 132, 149, 151, 

156, 162, 167, 168 

Ipswich Cross, 29 

Letheringham, 130 

Leyden Hundred, 149 

London, 9, 16, 19, 47, 51, 54, 112, 130, 

141, 149, 152, 158 

Lyme, Ct., 5, m, 150, 151, 169 

Michaelstowe, 10 

Nacton, 57 

Nettlestead, 28 

Newbury, Mass., [46, 169 

New Haven, Ct., 5, 1 2 

Northampton, Mass., 1 1 

Norwalk, Ct., in, 160-164 

Norwich, Ct.. 162 

Nottingham, 169 

Oakley, Great [Much Ockley], 42, 45, 

1 

50, 88, 93, 94, 96, 97, 100, 138 

Oakley, Little, 39, 77, 78, 81-83, 85, 

88, 115,118, 131, 133 

1

1 84 

Index of Places 

Orford, 168 Stratford, Ct., 163 

Pateswicke, 149 Sturwood, 134, 137 

Ramsey, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15-18, 23. 3°. Tatingstone, 122 

3*i 34, 3 8 > 39.42, 43,45 ,47 48, Tendring Hundred, 7, 9-1 1, 5 2, 56, 75- 

57,64,73-78,81-85,87-90, 92- 101, 106, 138, 139, 149 151 

100, 105, 106, 109, no, 113, 115, Tey, Little, 153 

116, 119, 128, 132-134, 

1 

37> 138, Thorington, 10, 139-142 

142, 145, 146, 151, 157, 159 Thorpe, 64 

Ramsey Bridge, 10, 12, 13, 20, 21. 46, Trimley, 57, 63, 167, 168 

78, 80, 87, 90, 93, 94, 98 . *3 8 Washbrook, 26, 32, ^, 35-37 65, 67- 

Ramsey Street, 9, 10, 81, 138 71, 77, 119, 120, 122 

Ray, The, 9, 10, 75, 79, 81 Wenham, Little, 37 

Salem, Mass., 151 Wethersfield, Ct., 160 

Sawtrey, 130 

Weymouth, Mass., 126 

Saybrook, Ct., 150, 151, 163 Windsor, Ct., 160 

Shortle, 64 

Witham, 12 

Southampton, L. I., 168 Wix, 10, 105, 107, no, 112, '37-139- 

Sproughton, 65 142, I44-M7 

Stamford, Ct., 160 Wrabness, 10, 75, 77, 78, 82, 1 05, 107- 

Stanwey, 85 1 10, 112, 137-139, 142- 147, 159 

Stradbroke, 168 

r

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 

3 1197 21319 0801

The English ancestry of Reinold and Matthew Marvin of Hartford, Ct ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?